The princess and her frogs
by nathan.maccallum.75
Summary: A story about the relationship between Nathan(Robin) and Lissa. Will include other pairings of course, some being implied throughout and others being overtly mentioned. COMPLETED!
1. Pilot

The Tactician and the Princess

"Wake up, Nathan. We're going to set up camp here."

Nathan's eyes slowly opened as he yawned and stretched his arms, seeing his best friend, Chrom, looking down at him from within the caravan. He took a peek outside to see a thick layer of snow covering the ground, deducing that they had entered Regna Ferox.

Just hours earlier, Nathan and the others had been engaged in a fight with Risen up the North road. Nathan had run himself tired from the constant strategizing during the battle as the group's tactician, and fell asleep almost immediately after the group was able to get back into their caravans and get themselves moving once again.

Chrom offered Nathan a hand up, which he gladly accepted. The Brown-haired Tactician then hopped out of the caravan for a look around, and also to decide where to pitch his tent. He noticed that the others had already done so, forming a circle-like shape around the center of the area, which Frederick was setting up a campfire in. He nodded to Nathan as he walked by.

There wasn't exactly a lot of room remaining in the small area created by the formation of the tents, with the only spot remaining being next to a vibrant yellow tent, that was bigger than many of the others. Nathan figured it was as good a spot as any, and began setting up his small black tent next to it.

"Hey, Nathan! Need any help?"

The tactician turned around to see Lissa, Chrom's little sister, standing behind him. She wore a yellow skirt and had her hair in two pigtails. Nathan frowned and squinted at her.

"What's the catch?" He asked skeptically.

"There's no catch!" Lissa responded with a twinge of annoyance in her voice. "I just want to help out my friend!"

Nathan smiled. "Well, if you're that willing, it'll be much help to have you around. Thanks!"

Lissa grinned in return as the two worked together to pitch the tent, which turned into a quite enjoyable exercise, with the light conversation between the two keeping them occupied. As they were finishing with setting the tent up, Frederick walked by while surveying the area.

"Ah, Lissa, there you are! I couldn't find you to come get firewood with me, so I went by myself. It would be rude of me to not have a fire prepared in case milord and milady need to warm up." He told them.

"Yeah, sorry Freddy, I forgot about that – I was going to come join you but Nathan asked me to help him set up his tent." Lissa responded.

"Hey, I didn't-" Nathan started to say before Lissa gave him a quick glare. "Uh…I mean, my apologies, Sir Frederick, I didn't know that you needed Lissa's assistance."

Frederick gave him a nod. "It's no issue, Nathan. Simply a miscommunication." Frederick then walked back to attend to the campfire, as Nathan wiped the sweat off his brow, then looked over at Lissa, who was giggling at him.

Nathan raised an eyebrow as Lissa let out a sheepish grin. "No catch, huh?" He said with a smug look on his face.

"Well, not for you anyways! And besides, I thought you liked my company!' Lissa retorted.

Nathan smiled warmly back at her. "Well, I do, so I guess that's alright." He declared. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I have to get started on mapping a route for tomorrow's march."

Lissa frowned and crossed her arms. "Where's the fun in that?" She whined.

Nathan shrugged in response. "Well, the fun is people not getting killed, I suppose." He stated nonchalantly. "Why, was there something you needed my help for?"

Lissa shook her head as she played with one of her pigtails. "Well no, as you can see my tent's already set up…" She pointed towards the large yellow tent next to his and Nathan's eyes widened.

"That's yours? It's like, twice the size of everyone else's! I thought it was supposed to be the mess hall or something!" Nathan said with a laugh.

"Yeah, well, I didn't ask for it! Chrom and Frederick bought it for me." Lissa retorted, clearly annoyed. "They're always trying to watch me like hawks, I'm not their kid…"She vented.

Nathan bit his bottom lip while standing in front of her. "True, but you are Chrom's little sister, and one of the people that Frederick was assigned to guard by your parents…so isn't that the same thing?" He said with a sheepish grin, nudging her playfully, not realizing that he had crossed a line.

"I'm pretty sure it is not!" Lissa yelled back at him. "I am NOT delicate!" She stormed off, as those who were outside were all looking in their direction.

"So much for planning out the next march tonight…" Nathan thought to himself with a sigh as he ran after Lissa to apologize.

**So, that's it for this chapter, but please let me know if I should continue this! Thanks! - Nate**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Nathan finally found Lissa sitting on a log well outside of the camp area. He scratched his head, trying to figure out how to approach her – he had never been all too good at talking to girls, and it certainly didn't help that he found Lissa to be quite attractive.

"Uh…Lissa?" He called to her timidly. She didn't say anything, but he could hear her softly crying. The amnesiac tactician figured that not saying anything was better than her telling him to leave, so he slowly inched closer, as if she was a sleeping bear.

"Look, Liss, I'm sorry about that back there, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings – I never mean to hurt anyone's feelings – my brain just isn't too smart when it comes to common sense sometimes, or dealing with women for that matter," He told her, having finally gotten close enough to sit next to her on the log and put a hand on her shoulder.

Lissa sniffled, and slowly looked up at him, drying her eyes. "It's fine, I know you didn't mean anything by it…hey, what did you just call me?"

Nathan's face turned beet red as he realized what had just happened. "Er…Liss, I think…sorry, I come up with random nicknames for most of the people in the shepherds. I won't do it again though, I promise!" He quickly told her, waving his hands in front of his face to signal not wanting to get into any trouble.

Lissa found the whole thing quite amusing, and, quite frankly, very cute and she playfully winked at him, having quickly gotten over her crying due to the now very interesting situation. "No, I actually really like it!" She said with a cute giggle. "I think it's pretty cute, to be honest…" She added, causing Nathan to let out an awkward laugh, his face redder than a tomato now, and scratch the back of his head.

"Heh…uh, thanks! I'll remember that." Nathan responded. He quickly scrambled his mind for a new topic to change the subject to. "So, why do you hate being called delicate? To be honest, I thought girls liked that…" He asked.

Lissa's expression became serious again, and Nathan tried to hide his relief that the subject had been changed.

"Well…there's a difference between having someone really care about you, and just getting mobbed all the time. I really just want…I don't know… a little more freedom, I guess!"

Nathan nodded and made a strange face in concentration, trying to figure out some way he could help the Princess. Lissa, watching the tactician, noted that his face did some sort of strange rubbery thing, which she couldn't help but find strangely attractive.

"Well, I would try to give you a bigger role in our fights, but I'm pretty sure Chrom and Frederick wouldn't like that…but I'll do my best to figure something out for you, okay?" Nathan promised.

Lissa smiled warmly at her friend. "Hey thanks!" She responded cheerfully. The two then turned towards the camp as they heard the dinner bell ring.

"So, anyways, shall we?" Nathan said with a quick wink at the Princess, getting up and offering her a hand.

"Sure! Oh, and…thanks for cheering me up." Lissa responded, with a twinge of blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Anytime." Nathan simply responded, as they began to walk back next to each other.

"Oh! Hey! You need to tell me what your nicknames are for everyone else in the shepherds are!"

Nathan groaned loudly, getting a loud laugh and snort from his friend.

"Wait a second…was that a snort?" Nathan asked, a large grin creeping onto his face. Now it was Lissa's turn to groan.

"So, how about I won't tell anyone about your nicknames, and you don't tell anyone about my snorting?" She desperately asked the man, whose face changed to a solemn expression as he nodded in agreement.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Much later in the night, the Shepherds had all gathered around the campfire, sharing stories and jokes. The only one missing from the group was Nathan, who had gone off to his tent straight after dinner to plan out the next day's march, already behind schedule from dealing with Lissa. Not only did the Princess feel bad for making Nathan miss out on the fun the group was having, but she also felt somewhat lonely without him – she had grown quite attached to the brown-haired tactician over the past little while, and without him or Maribelle around to hang around with, she felt as though everything just wasn't as much fun. The two of them always seemed to know how to make her feel important.

"I'm gonna go talk to Nathan, okay?" Lissa told the others. "Just to, uh, see how he's doing." She quickly added, trying to make an excuse for herself as she felt her face start to heat up.

Chrom calmly smiled at his sister and nodded. "Just try not to annoy him, okay? We're going to need his plan for the march for tomorrow." He told her.

Lissa playfully winked at her brother, retorting, "No guarantees!" As she pranced off towards Nathan's tent.

"Heeeey Nathan! How are you?" Lissa asked as she entered the tent of the man. Instead of getting a response, she got a loud snort from the tactician, who was sound asleep. His Levin sword and Tomes had been set off beside his bedroll, and he was sound asleep, his head resting on a large map of the area and one of his strategy books, which was still left open.

"Well, I can't blame you for getting tired out from all this work…" Lissa stated, to no one in particular.

The Princess decided to take some time to look around Nathan's tent while she was there. The tent was mostly empty, save for the small portable desk and chair Nathan was sitting at, his bedroll, and a stack of books sitting next to his tomes and sword. She picked up one of the books from the pile and opened it, scanning the pages. She quickly realized that it was some sort of historical strategy book, not something she would ever enjoy reading. She saw the quill and ink sitting on Nathan's desk, and came up with an idea. She took the quill, setting the book down on the desk next to Nathan, and doodling a crude sketch of her friend on the front page of it. When she went to dip the quill back into the ink vial, she accidentally pushed it over with the quill, spilling the ink all onto the text and covering it in the liquid.

"Ah!" Lissa whispered frantically, picking back up the ink vial, but it was too late as most of it had emptied onto the book. Lissa cringed as she lifted the soggy book and saw the ink still dripping off of it. She took the book and quickly hid it behind the desk, out of Nathan's sight.

"Well, I guess it's better I tell him now than him finding out later…" Lissa sighed to herself. "Geez, I hope he'll still talk to me after this…"

Another idea formulated in Lissa's mind, as she formed a sly grin. She gently pinched Nathan's nose and held it for a few moments, until Nathan's eyes shot open and his head flew up, as he yelled, "BWAARGH! Risen! Risen riding wolves! They're all…" He frowned, as he looked frantically around, realizing it was all just a dream. He then heard a certain very familiar giggle from next to him, and realized what was going on.

"Lissa…" He groaned.

"That was hilarious!" Lissa yelled, on the ground, laughing uncontrollably. "Bwargh? Risen riding wolves? That must've been one wild dream!"

Nathan glared at his friend. "Was that really necessary?"

"No, but it was great to watch!" Lissa responded, still laughing but getting back on her feet.

Normally, Nathan was very good-natured, but being having a nice nap interrupted was an easy way to make him irritated.

"Who does such things? Is that really how your parents raised you?!" He shot back, cringing as he realized how rude of a statement that actually was. "Ugh, wow…for a tactician, I really need to plan out what I say to girls a lot better…" He thought to himself.

"…I…I don't know…I never really knew my parents…" Lissa told him, her mood quickly changing from amused to depressed.

"Oh…Oh, right…that was, er…" Nathan stuttered, sweat starting to drip down his face as he scratched his head in frustration.

Lissa weakly smiled back at him. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm sure you didn't mean anything by it." She responded. "Oh right!" She added, having completely forgotten about the book of tactics. "Actually, there's something else that I should be apologizing for, the reason I woke you up in the first place…" She told him.

Nathan let out a sigh of relief. "Well, whatever it is, I'm sure I can forgive it after my heartless comment…" He told her.

"I'm not sure if you'll be saying that after you see this…" Lissa stated glumly, revealing the ink-stained book to the tactician.

Nathan's jaw dropped as he took the book and slowly opened it, seeing the pages covered in ink and ruined beyond what could possibly be salvageable.

"I was trying to doodle a picture of you, and I, uh…I accidentally spilled ink all over the pages…But Ireallyreallyreallydidn'tmeanto!" Lissa pleaded to her friend.

"It…it was a rare text…I had just started to…" Nathan started weakly, then sighed in defeat. "It's…fine. Accidents…happen."

Lissa let out a loud sigh in relief. "Oh, Phew!"

Nathan then rubbed his eyes and let out another long yawn. "So, was there any other reason you stopped by, or can I get back to my work?" He was still somewhat annoyed with Lissa, and he knew he had to complete the plans for the next day's march quite soon.

"Well, now that you mention it, I came to find you because I was getting kind of bored with hanging out with the others at the campfire. To be honest, I don't have as much fun without you or Maribelle around…" She told him, looking away to try and hide her blush. Lucky for her, Nathan didn't notice as he was doing the exact same thing as her from her compliment.

"Well, I need to finish the plans for this march unfortunately, so I don't think I'll be leaving this tent tonight, sorry." He told her glumly.

"Well, I'll just stay here and hang out with you then!" Lissa cheerfully declared, much to Nathan's surprise and amusement.

"…You sure? I'm going to be working all night…" He told her warily.

"Sure! I've already been around the others all night, and I've gotta get some time to spend with you, right Natie?" She responded with a playful wink.

"Well, if you say so…wait, what did you just call me?" He asked, a smile creeping up on his face as he let out a small chuckle.

Lissa blushed as she tried to defend herself. "Hey, you come up with your nicknames, so can't I use one for you? Geez!"

Nathan laughed. "Hey, I never said you couldn't!" He told her, adding, "I actually kind of like it to be honest…"

Lissa's smile grew even wider at Nathan's response. "Alright, that's good, because I think that nickname suits you perfectly!"

"Anyways, fill me in," Nathan asked, turning back to his papers and beginning to fill them out again, as Lissa took a seat down on the bedroll behind him. "What have I missed out at the campfire?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Frederick, as he always did, woke up bright and early, well before the crack of dawn. He began his morning as he always did, taking the time to talk to whoever was on watch that morning (Today being Stahl), and then doing a brief survey of the camp to clear any objects that any of the shepherds could possibly trip on. Finally, he headed over to the tents of Chrom and Nathan to wake them so that the three of them could discuss their strategy for any upcoming marches or battles.

After getting up Chrom (And listening to the Prince's hearty argument on why "Getting up early was the stupidest idea anyone could come up with", to which he heartily replied, "Well put, Milord! Now then, please, let us head to the strategy tents where you may continue your powerful speech!"), Frederick made his was to Nathan's tent. As he poked his head in, he was horrified at what he saw.

Nathan was still at his desk, his head in his hands over his maps and books, with a small pile of drool next to his mouth, and lying on his bedroll was Lissa, who was sprawled out and snoring quite loudly, with her arms stretched out and a blanket next to her which she had clearly thrown off at some point in the night.

"SIR NATHAN! MILADY! WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU?" Frederick frantically yelled, running over to Lissa and pulling the blanket back over her as Nathan groaned and lifted his head from his book, wiping a small bit of drool from the corner of his mouth.

"Ugh…Freddy…didn't we talk about not being loud when there's still normal people who don't get up this early trying to sleep?" Nathan told the Great Knight, stretching his arms before looking at the man and seeing her standing over Lissa. "Oh. Right. That." He thought to himself.

"What did you do to Milady Lissa?!" Frederick frantically questioned the tactician, to which Nathan became quite confused.

"What did I do to her…? Frederick, she came over to talk, we ended up talking for way too long, and she fell asleep on my bedroll…so I gave her that blanket, which she kept throwing off, which was quite annoying…and I guess I fell asleep while planning out the march. So, nothing bad happened. Nothing indecent. All is well and good." Nathan declared sleepily, rubbing his eyes and getting up to stretch. He was surprised more than anything that Lissa was still asleep, still snorting and snoring away.

"Very well, I believe you Sir Nathan…" Frederick responded, before turning back to Lissa, who had started to mutter something. "Hm…?" Frederick said, turning back to the princess, as Nathan walked over to see what was going on.

"Ehehehe…oh Nathan, not there…ohohohoho…hehe that tickles!" Lissa muttered through her sleep. Frederick now turned back to Nathan with a cold glare on his face. Sweat began to drip down Nathan's brow as he slowly backed away.

"Frederick…I swear…I didn't do anything…well I think I may have tickled her at one point, but that was just because she tried to dump some snow down my collar from outside…Frederick?" Nathan told the man, putting his hands in front of himself to try and protect his face. Frederick slapped the man across the head.

"Ow! Oh Come on Freddy, that wasn't necessary! I told you, I didn't do anything!" Nathan whined, rubbing his head. The Knight continued his stern cold gaze at the man.

"I do believe that you didn't but that was in case you get any ideas of stealing Milady's purity!" Frederick told him sternly. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I must start the fire once again so that it is ready come breakfast time." Frederick declared. "I trust you can take care of Milady Lissa once she wakes up? Oh, and make your way to the strategy tent once you are ready, I have already sent Milord over there."

Nathan sighed in defeat as he nodded to the man, and Frederick exited the tent.

"Well, I suppose I'd better get you up…Nathan muttered to himself, turning to Lissa, only to see that she had pushed the blanket back off of herself again and was still snoring quite loudly. Nathan smiled at her; even asleep there was something about the princess that he found attractive. He knelt down, and decided now was as good a chance as any to reverse the prank that she had played on him last night, as he took his fingers and gently pinched her nose. Then, to his surprise, Lissa took one of her hands and pinched Nathan's nose as well.

"I'll stop if you stop." She told him, her eyes still closed. Nathan sighed, taking his hands off her nose as she did the same. Lissa yawned and stretched her arms as she sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"How long have you been awake for?" Nathan questioned. "Hey, wait a second…you weren't talking in your sleep then, were you? OH COME ON!"

Lissa let out a loud laugh as Nathan pieced together what had happened. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get you smacked like that! It was just too good of an opportunity to resist!" Lissa told him. Unfortunately for her, the tactician was less than amused.

"I don't really think that was necessary…" He said. "But, it was quite nice having you keep me company last night, so I guess I'll let this one slide."

Lissa giggled and nodded. "Alrighty, I'm gonna head over to my tent. See you later, Natie!" She called playfully as she left, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before both of their faces turned beet red and she ran out.

Nathan rubbed his cheek where she had kissed him. "Well, I guess that makes everything worth it…" He muttered to himself with an ear-to-ear grin plastered on his face. He then threw on his black cloak, strapped his sword to his back, and headed off to the strategy tent.


	5. Author's notes

Author's note

Hey everyone! First off, I just want to say thanks for all the support I've been getting so far on this story, it really gives me a lot of motivation to keep writing it each day, and I've also found that it's been a very enjoyable story for myself as well just due to how easy the ideas for it seem to flow into my head (As you can see from how quickly chapters are going up, but no guarantees on that continuing just based on the fact that writer's block is a thing).

So anyways, I figured it was worth posting this for a better visual on what the avatar (Nathan) is supposed to look like. Here's the list of what I've given him:

Build: 2 (Shortest build)

Face: 1 (Regular, same as the default robin)

Hair: 5 (Not sure how to describe this one)

Colour: 5 (Dark Brown)

Voice: Male 3 (The lowest voice, I just found it sounded the coolest)

Asset: Strength

Flaw: Luck

The asset and flaw don't apply really at any point in this fan fiction, unless of course I find some way to incorporate them, but I figured I'd include them anyways. It's my favourite set for my avatar just because with Limit Breaker you can get Armsthrift abuse, so I find Luck as a flaw works fine to go with some nifty swords.

Anyways, that's enough rambling from me! Expect the next chapter sometime before the weekend, as long as everything goes as planned (This is my final week of college so I do have exams and such), and thanks again for all the support!

-Nate


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Chrom looked up from polishing off Falchion in the strategy tent to see Nathan slowly enter, rubbing a large bump on his head.

"Good morning. What happened to you?" Chrom asked, walking over to the man, frowning with concern.

"Ugh…Frederick happened…" Nathan groaned. Chrom's brow furrowed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He probed anxiously.

"Uh…well Lissa was sleeping with me in my tent…" He began, before Chrom grabbed Falchion and growled at him. "What was that?"

Nathan groaned, rubbing his head again and waving Chrom's blade down. "Hey, hey! Let me finish! And also rephrase that, I can see how you saying that would get you all worked up…"

Chrom stood tense for a second, before placing Falchion back in its hilt and pulling up a two chairs, one for Nathan and one for himself. Nathan breathed a sigh of relief as they sat down.

"Anyways, as I was saying…" Nathan began, before relaying the full story to his best friend. Chrom stayed silent through the whole thing, with a smile forming on his face at the end as Nathan told him about Lissa feigning her sleep. "…Oh, and then she kissed me on the cheek before she left." Nathan quickly muttered, his face turning red, hoping that Chrom didn't hear him.

"Hm…" Chrom muttered, leaning back in his chair to ponder what Nathan had told him. "Well, now that I think about it, I think you two would be a good couple." He declared, much to Nathan's surprise.

"Well, that's new…you were about to take my head off a few minutes ago…" Nathan mused with a slight grin. Chrom laughed back.

"True, but now that I think about it, I don't think there's anyone I'd rather have as a brother-in-law than my best friend." Chrom declared.

"Wait, I haven't proposed to her or anything yet, she doesn't even know I like her!" Nathan quickly responded.

Chrom was quite amused by the whole situation. On the battlefield, it was near impossible to faze Nathan or break his concentration, but talking about 'love' really seemed to rattle him.

"So…you do like her then?" Chrom playfully chided at the man, whose face turned completely red after he realized what he had just said.

"Yeah…" Nathan muttered, before firing back, "But you like Sumia!"

Now it was Chrom's turn to blush, as he nearly fell off his chair. "How…how did you know?" He asked weakly. Now it was Nathan's turn to laugh, particularly pleased with himself at turning the tables on the situation.

"How did I know? There isn't a person in the camp who doesn't know!" He retorted, trying not to laugh too hard as Chrom grimaced at the now awkward realization.

"But anyways, that's not the point. She likes you, you like her…you should, you know…do something about it sometime." Nathan told the Prince.

"Very well…" Chrom began, "What do you recommend?" Normally, if there was some sort of tactical issue, Nathan had a solution to it, and in his mind, Chrom saw this as that type of problem.

Nathan raised an eyebrow at the man. "I don't know, I'm in the same situation you are, as far as I know…" Nathan retorted glumly. The two men sat with their heads down, deep in concentration. Just then, a voice spoke up from behind them.

"Milord? Sir Nathan? I don't mean to interrupt, but…can your 'womanly troubles' wait for another time?" Frederick said, standing at their main strategy table, carefully watching the two.

"F-frederick?! How long have you been there?" Chrom cried out in surprise.

"Since near the start of your conversation with Sir Nathan, milord. It seems as though the two of you got far too wrapped up in your conversation. I suggest you have your wits about you for our march to Regna Ferox, in case things go sour." Frederick told the two with a cold gaze. Nathan and Chrom gulped and quickly nodded, not wanting to infuriate the man.

"Alright, let's discuss strategy then." Nathan stated, breaking the awkward silence and getting up from his chair to join Frederick around their table.

Once their long strategy session had ended, Frederick quickly pulled Nathan aside to talk.

"Eh? What is it, Freddy?" Nathan asked, as he saw Chrom walk off to talk with Vaike.

"Er…I just wanted to apologize for what happened this morning. If Milord approves of your relationship with Lissa, then I will do whatever is in my power to ensure that your marriage is bountiful and fruitful!" He powerfully declared, before waltzing off to prepare his things for the march.

Nathan sighed, rubbing his bump once again with his hand. "Geez, you tell them you like her and all of a sudden they're trying to get us married…" He muttered to himself.

**I really wanted to go for the "Childish schoolgirl" Type of look for this chapter, just because I feel like, even though Chrom is supposed to be 18-19, he'd still have a lack of experience with women simply due to fighting all the time and knowing girls as partners on the battlefield compared to 'lovers'. With Nathan, I mean, the guy's an amnesiac, so it was pretty easy to set him up as someone who isn't so good with girls. Anyways, hope you enjoyed!**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"On your left, Sir Nathan!" Frederick frantically cried at the man. Nathan quickly turned in the direction, parrying the axe of the Feroxi warrior with his Levin sword, and quickly responding with a direct shot from his Thunder tome to the chest of the man, knocking him back. "Thanks," Nathan quickly called in between his gasps for breath.

The Shepherds had made their way to Regna Ferox, where they were greeted with much less hospitality than they expected, being attacked by the warrior tribe. The group had been split up, each heading for the two fortress doors, with Nathan, Frederick, Lissa and Stahl heading to the east, and Chrom, Sumia, Vaike, Miriel, Virion and Sully all heading west. Nathan was quickly tiring from the battle, due to them being outnumbered and also from having to protect Lissa, who he had instructed to stay close to him in the battle. However, as he was taking a second to catch his breath, he neglected to notice a Feroxi archer targeting him from afar.

"Nathan! Look out!" Lissa cried, noticing the archer. The man looked up just in time to see the arrow leave the bow of the man. He frantically tried to duck out of the way, before a large empty suit of armour jumped in front of the blow, and the arrow bounced off of it.

"What the…hell?" Nathan muttered, still wheezing in between breaths. The empty suit of armour turned to the tactician to reveal a man inside of it

"Are you alright, Nathan?" The man asked. Nathan quickly nodded his head, thankful at the mysterious armoured individual. At this point, he was thoroughly convinced that he was hallucinating. "What was in that bear meat?" The tactician muttered, before motioning to Lissa to follow him as the armoured man moved off again.

Much later, the battle had finished and the Feroxi warriors were finally calmed. Nathan had learned that the man in the armour was Kellam, who had been with them for the entire time; he had just never noticed him, despite his large presence. They met with the East-Khan, Flavia, who told them about the warrior's policy in their country, and how they would need to battle against some fierce opponents in order to get the help of the Feroxi warriors. Chrom, as he always did, welcomed the challenge, a move that Nathan could not argue with. The Feroxi people seemed to believe that fighting was the best form of diplomacy, something that the Shepherds couldn't afford to disagree with. Flavia had given the group a section of the castle to stay in before their battle with the warrior's of the West-Khan, Basilio, in three days' time.

Nathan made his way to an empty bedroom, hung up his jacket and Levin sword, and sprawled himself out on the bed. "Ugh. Sore…" He muttered to himself, feeling a bruise on his arm. He looked down at his leg; to see what he had suspected had happened earlier, sporting a deep cut from a Feroxi blade. He had seen the wounds of the others from the fierce battle at the Feroxi gate, and he didn't want to be a burden to Lissa with all the work she would have.

Nathan then lay back on the bed, and took a second to try to collect his thoughts about the princess. Did she like him? He had no real way to be sure, and as a tactician he always wanted an absolute answer on a dilemma. Did he have feelings for her? Yes, he conceded to himself. From the moment they first locked eyes in the field, he had gained an interest in her, and her quirky personality only added to that, even if she managed to irritate him at times. After getting an approval from Chrom and Frederick the other day, he knew he could at least try to find a way to be more romantic about it.

"That's true, but I don't know how to talk to girls about something like romance…" He muttered to himself. "Perhaps…" He thought, becoming lost in his mind as he explored the possibilities. "...Could I ask for help?" He wondered aloud.

He went down a mental checklist of the shepherds in his mind. Vaike may have some advice, but it wouldn't come without telling everyone in the camp about his secret. Stahl was too busy stuffing his face all the time to worry about relationships, as far as he knew. Kellam was always invisible, so he doubted that there was any girl that he had even had the chance to interact with. And Virion seemed much too over the top. He didn't dare ask any of the Girls, in case they were to spread gossip of his crush on Lissa. "Guess I'm on my own here…" He again mused aloud.

"Alone on what?" A cheery voice asked from the door. Nathan looked up to see Lissa walking in, with a grin on her face. "Come on, you can tell me – Oh my gosh! What is that! Gods, Nathan, why didn't you tell me about that! When did it happen?" Lissa cried out, her expression changing from cheery to sour.

Nathan realized he had forgotten to roll his pant leg back down, exposing his cut. "It's fine." He said nonchalantly. "There are people in our army who have fought through worse."

"I don't care if there are!" Lissa yelled, now infuriated with the man. "You always have to get something like this treated, especially so it won't get infected! And how do you think I would feel if you ended up getting injured even worse from this after you got it protecting me today?"

Nathan sighed, now filled with guilt. "You're right. I'm sorry."

Lissa let out an exasperated sigh and glared at the man, taking her healing staff off of her back and pushing him up on the bed.

"You really are mad at me, aren't you?" Nathan asked the Princess.

"Yes, I am!" Lissa shot back angrily as she held her heal staff above his leg, her hand starting to shake. Nathan could see tears starting to well up in the corners of her eyes.

"Uh…why?" Nathan asked quizzically. He would quickly realize that this question was not the best course of action, as Lissa quickly smacked his injured leg with her staff. "Ow! What was that for?" Nathan yelled.

"For you being a jerk!" Lissa yelled, starting to cry. "I…I just want to be able to help, especially with you trying to protect me when we're fighting…and when I get a chance to do something for you, you blow me off!"

Nathan felt horrible at this point, looking down at Lissa sobbing uncontrollably with her face down on his leg. "Lissa…" he whispered weakly, "…I'm sorry. I know I've already said it, but I mean it. Not coming to you was the most stupid and rash thing I could have done, and I promise I'll make it up to you. However you want. Alright?"

Lissa looked up. "A-anything?" She sniffled. Nathan smiled warmly at her and nodded.

"You pick, whatever you want. Er, I would prefer if it was after you fixed my leg though, heh heh…" He told the princess, much to her delight.

"Alrighty!" Lissa said with a grin returning to her face.

As Lissa turned back to working on patching up Nathan's leg with her heal staff, the tactician quickly breathed a sigh of relief. "It's like I'm dodging arrows every time I go to talk to her…" He thought quietly to himself.

"…Aaaand, done!" Lissa called out after a few minutes. Nathan looked down to see his leg fully healed, with all signs of the cut completely gone.

"Wow, I have to admit, you're a wizard with that staff of yours." Nathan remarked. "So, what did you have in mind?" He questioned the princess, who furrowed her brow in concentration.

"Hm…I can't think of anything I really need right now from you…but don't think I'll forget this! You owe me a favour!" She declared. Nathan softly laughed and nodded.

"Anyways, I'm gonna go see if anyone else needs any healing! Laater, Natie!" She said, before dashing out the door with a playful wink.

Nathan lay back on his bed. "Gods, I hope this was a good idea…" he groaned to himself.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Nathan, Chrom, and Frederick all stood around a large wooden table inside of the Feroxi fortress. Nathan had laid out all of the different battle options and different combinations of warriors that they could take with them into the match. They had to narrow it down to six warriors – but unfortunately as there were no animals allowed within the match, which ruled out some of their best warriors in Frederick, Sully, Stahl and Sumia. This meant that the six warriors would have to be some combination of Nathan, Chrom, Virion, Kellam, Miriel, Vaike, and Lissa. With this in mind, only one of the remaining shepherds would have to be asked to sit out.

"So? What do you think, Nathan?" Chrom inquired, interrupting the tactician who was deep in thought. With only one eligible warrior being left out, he knew it would hurt their feelings no matter who he chose. He knew his own presence would be required to perform his tactics properly, and Chrom was guaranteed a spot as well, but there didn't seem to be any obvious answer from the remaining candidates on who to leave out.

"…I…I'm not sure," Nathan declared, rubbing his head in confusion. "Who did you have in mind?" He asked the two.

"Lissa," They both quickly responded.

Nathan sighed and shook his head. "No, it can't be her. We need a healer, in case things go sour. I know she can't fight, but I can keep her safe." He told the two. This sparked a long debate between the three, with Chrom and Frederick protesting the move but Nathan trying to defend it. After a solid ten minutes that included plenty of yelling at each other and the slamming of fists on the table, Chrom and Frederick eventually conceded to Nathan about letting Lissa join the battle.

Chrom sighed and nodded in defeat. "Well, what's left? How do we decide who to leave out?" He inquired at Nathan.

"Everyone is so evenly matched…I think we should just draw sticks." The tactician decided.

Chrom raised an eyebrow, but eventually nodded. He was still somewhat irritated with Nathan over the Lissa dispute, but he knew better than to continue his argument with his tactician about tactics.

Shortly after, the entire group of shepherds had gathered in the strategy room, all squeezing in, and Frederick went about explaining what was going to happen. He hesitated for a moment before saying that Lissa would be fighting anyways for the need of a healer, much to the princess' delight. Eventually, the sticks were drawn and it was decided that Miriel would not be participating in the battle. No one had any protest towards this, as everything had been done fairly, and the group quickly dispersed, with Nathan deciding to head to the Feroxi training grounds to spar with some of the warriors there.

"Hey, mister!" A certain voice said from behind him, running up to him and jumping on his back. Nathan quickly pushed her off and turned around to see Lissa beaming at him.

"You're welcome." He stated with a twinge of annoyance, "You have no idea how hard it was to argue for getting you into this battle, especially since you can't even defend yourself."

"I know…" Lissa muttered with a pout, "But hey! That's what I came here for! To talk to you!"

"About what?"

"About that favour you owe me!" Lissa declared. "I think you should teach me magic!"

Nathan's eyes widened at the proposal, but he sighed and shook his head. "I don't have the time." He simply told her. "Between tactic meetings and planning out marches and battle scenarios, there isn't any room for me to fit in training you. That and learning how to use magic would be along process, something I don't have the time, or frankly the patience, to deal with."

Lissa frowned and made a pouty face. "Awwww, but you promised! You owe me a favour and I want to use it, mister!" She whined.

Nathan sighed in defeat. "Fine, come with me." He told her, starting to walk again.

"Ooh! So that's a yes? Where are we going?" Lissa asked.

"Well, first, we're going to my room, to get some tomes. Then, we're going to the training grounds. I'm going to teach you something, and I want you to practice it while I go spar. Sound fair?" Nathan told her. Lissa thought for a second, and then smiled and nodded.

"Okay, deal!"


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Hi-yah!" Lissa yelled as she launched a small blast of wind at the training dummy. Rather than having the intended effect, She groaned when she saw the blast didn't even put a scratch on the dummy.

"Nathan, I need help again!" She called out. The tactician heard her, being in the sparring grounds directly adjacent to where he was, motioning to the swordsman he was dueling, whom he had learned was named Lon'qu, and putting down his practice sword and walking over to talk to Lissa.

"What's up?" He asked between pants as he rubbed the sweat off his forehead with a towel.

"I can't get it! I'm doing the hand signals, and reading the book, but nothing's happening!" The princess told the man. Nathan rubbed his chin in concentration.

"Try doing it again, I'll watch and try to see what you're doing wrong." He told her.

Lissa turned back to the training dummy, took another glance at her tome, and then raised her hand again. The same thing happened as before, however, as the blast of wind was launched form fingertips but bounced ineffectively off of the wooden figure.

"See? It's not working! Maybe the tome's broken…" She whined. Nathan let out a small laugh. Lissa, now frustrated, threw the tome at the man.

"Ow! Hey, don't throw things at your teacher!" Nathan called out. He picked up the tome and flipped through it. "Well, what do you know…this is an outdated copy. I must've used it up a while ago but just never thrown it away."

"Whaat? But I was joking!" Lissa responded with a surprised expression. "How does a book get broken, anyways?" She asked.

"Well, when it comes to tomes, in addition to teaching how to effectively use the art, they give it power. That's why I still have to carry around my tomes in battle, even though I have those spells memorized." He responded, as he looked through his bag for another wind tome.

"For example…" Nathan quickly snapped his fingers and a small flame formed on his fingertips. He then waved his hand and the flame went away. "That's the best I can do without a tome right now. But with one…" He stood up and pulled a red tome out of his robes. "Elfire!" He called out, as a large blast of fire shot from his hand and incinerated one of the training dummies.

"W-wow! Teach me that one!" Lissa said excitedly.

Nathan sighed and tossed her a new wind tome. "Maybe later, but let's start small, okay?"

Lissa sighed in defeat. "Fiiine…" She muttered.

"Alright, give it a go Princess!" Nathan called at her with a bit of a laugh. Lissa blew a raspberry back at him, and turned to the training dummy in front of her.

"Take THIS!" She yelled, as a large blast of wind shot from her fingertips, smashing the dummy, and the wall behind it, to pieces. Nathan sat in shock, looking over at the remains of the dummy and the wall.

"Oh my." He simply whispered, clapping and forming a bit of a grin. "I expected you to be good, but not that good!" He called back to her. Lissa jumped up in excitement, and ran over and hugged the man, much to his surprise.

"Did you see that? It was awesome!" She called out. Nathan nodded.

"That was a good start, but I think we need to work on controlling your magic a bit…" He told her. Lissa looked back at the wall, and nodded with a guilty look.

"Oh and er, Lissa…"

"What is it?"

"You can stop hugging me now." Nathan responded, his face redder than a tomato.

"Oh! S-sorry, guess I got a bit carried away there…" Lissa muttered in embarrassment.

"T-that's fine…anyways, that'll be it for today, I'm gonna go back and spar with Lon'qu for a bit. See you at supper?" The tactician responded, with another blush at his question. Lissa smiled brightly and nodded.

"You got it, mister!"

**Hey guys! Thanks for reading my story! I just want to say again that the support has been incredible so far, and it really gives great motivation to keep writing! Anyways, I figured I should explain the idea for the tomes I came up with – I decided to use it just based on the fact that I would assume that the characters in the game would already have the spells memorized, and I wanted a way to incorporate the durability system for the tomes as well. Anyways, take care!**

**-Nate**


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Nervous?"

Lissa jumped as she turned around to see Nathan with his hand on her shoulder. She looked to see if any of the others were watching, and quickly nodded, a panicked expression on her face.

The group of those who were about to fight was gathered in a small room just outside of the entrance to the main arena, waiting to be summoned inside. After finishing a last-minute game of chess with Virion to get his brain working, Nathan had seen Lissa sitting by herself, clutching her staff, so he figured it was a good idea to reassure her.

"Don't worry, I'll be close by, and no one gets to touch you unless they kill me!" Nathan declared with a wink. Lissa frowned and smacked him with his staff, trying to hold back her laughter.

"Th-that's not funny!" She cried.

Nathan grinned back at her as he rubbed his arm where she had smacked him. "You don't sound so sure about that…anyways, there's no need to worry, like I said, I'll be with you. And regardless, you're pretty good with that magic of yours now. Just fight like we practiced and before you know it, we'll be marching back to Ylisstol with good news!"

Lissa exhaled and smiled at the man. "Alright, if you say so, just don't die on me out there!" She told him sternly. Nathan nodded solemnly in return.

"Alright everyone, listen up!" Chrom called out, looking at those assembled, who quickly stopped talking to listen to the prince. "The fate of Ylisse is in our hands! We must not fail!" He yelled, raising a fist in a rally cry. The others all followed suit, yelling, "For Ylisse!"

The group was shortly after summoned by Feroxi soldiers from their room, and marched down the hall towards the arena. As they drew close, they could hear the cheers of all the spectators. Lissa looked over at Nathan, who, for the first time, she could see to be somewhat nervous before a battle, his hands shaking and a bit of sweat running down his forehead. She reached out and took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Nathan looked over at the princess, and took a deep breath and exhaled, closing his eyes. He wasn't used to a large crowd by any means, nor having so much pressure riding on their battle, in addition to having to ensure that his strategy would keep the lives of the shepherds safe. However, Lissa's soft hand clasped in his seemed to calm him down. He squeezed her hand back, and gave her a warm smile before the group stepped out into the arena.

Now out in the arena, the shepherds took a second to look out into the stands. They quickly spotted their fellow shepherds, mostly from Frederick's loud cheers of "Go shepherds go", accompanied by a large wooden sign that it looked like he had carved. The other shepherds in the crowd were around him, pretending not to know the great knight, but waved when the group looked up at them.

Lissa looked across the battlefield, and spotted a very familiar figure. "Chrom! Look!" She called out, pointing to the masked swordsman on the other side of the battlefield. Chrom looked over to see Marth, the mysterious masked individual who had helped them back in the forest near Ylisse, during their first encounter with the Risen. Chrom drew his blade and the others drew their weapons as well.

"Here we go everyone! Split up accordingly!" Nathan called out, but not before Chrom had already taken off to fight Marth. "…OR, we could do that…" Nathan muttered. "Alright, same plan, Lissa and I can take this side without Chrom! You three take on the others!" Nathan ordered to Kellam, Vaike, and Virion, who nodded.

"They'll never see me coming! Well, no one does…"

"Ol' teach will give them what for!"

"I will teach these fools how a true gentleman does battle!"

The remaining five split up, heading to different sides of the arena. Nathan took one last look over at Chrom, who was engaged heavily with Marth. "Well, at least that takes care of one problem…" He thought to himself. The tactician then turned back to Lissa, as two of the opposing warriors charged at them.

"Alright Liss, you ready?" He asked, pulling his Levin sword out of the hilt on his back. She nodded and readied her tome, with her healing staff strapped to her back.

The two warriors quickly rushed up to Nathan and Lissa, with Nathan jumping in front of the princess, parrying a blow from each of them, trying to size up his opponents. One of them was using an axe, and the other carried a sword, both of an Iron make.

"Lissa, some help?" Nathan called out, in between blocking blows from each warrior. Lissa stood in panic, frozen.

"I…I can't I can't hit them without hitting you!" Lissa yelled back frantically.

Nathan nodded in concentration, and ducked to dodge a blow from the swordsman, before placing a kick to his stomach, knocking him back. "Now!" he yelled at the cleric. Lissa quickly readied her tome, and shot a sharp blast of wind at the man, killing him. Lissa sighed in relief, not noticing the axe warrior coming up behind her, and raising his axe to strike.

"LISSA!" Nathan screamed, jumping in between her and the Warrior as she turned around. The warrior landed a thick slash with his axe across Nathan's chest, knocking him back into Lissa's arms, who held him up. He glared at the warrior, raising his Levin sword in his hand, and using it to launch a large blast of Lightning at the man, knocking him back and into the arena wall, killing him.

"Well…nice work…I need a nap now." He stated, looking up at Lissa, before closing his eyes and blacking out.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

As Nathan slowly recovered his senses, the first thing he could feel was a sharp pain at his chest. He could feel numerous bandages wrapped tightly around the wound. He took in a deep breath of the air, his eyes still closed, and took a second to try and make out his surroundings. The air was cool but had a putrid odor in it that was unmistakable, so he assumed he was in the infirmary tent.

"Ugh…just how long have I been out for then?" He thought silently to himself. He could hear a soft humming from nearby his bed, and quickly peeking one eye open he saw, of course, Lissa, making her way around the tent, fixing up the other beds and spraying some sort of fragrance in the air.

"…Hey, Lissa…" Nathan sleepily muttered, as he sleepily stretched his arms and let out a long yawn, making Lissa jump in surprise. She walked back over to the brown-haired tactician and stared him down angrily, coming so close that their noses touched.

"YOU WERE OUT FOR TWO WHOLE DAYS, MISTER!" Lissa screamed angrily, with Nathan quickly recoiling away from her in surprise. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? YOU COULD HAVE DIED!" She continued, the tears starting to stream down her face. Nathan sat up and gave a cold glare back to Lissa.

"What was **I** doing? I was SAVING YOUR LIFE, if you weren't paying attention! That's kind of my job around here? You know, to make sure no one gets killed?" He yelled back angrily.

"Yeah, well, it doesn't do us any good if you get yourself KILLED in the process!" Lissa screamed back.

"IT'S BETTER THAT I GET KILLED THAN ANY OF YOU!" Nathan roared. All of the tears from Lissa and the small levels of annoyance had finally gotten to him, and he figured it was time he said his piece. "IT DOESN'T MATTER IF I DIE! NO ONE KNOWS WHERE I'M FROM! I DON'T HAVE FAMILY! YOU DO! YOU ALL DO!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. He noted to himself that by this point, the two of them would have definitely awoken the entire camp, and he'd probably have to apologize later, but at the moment, that was none of his concern. "It…it doesn't matter to anyone if I die. No one will remember me." He muttered, not making eye contact with Lissa.

"Nathan…I'm sorry…" Lissa muttered through sniffles, trying to hold back tears.

"Whatever. Tell Chrom I'm leaving." Nathan shot back bitterly, hopping out of the bed, grabbing his cloak, sword and tomes, and stomping his way out of the tent. Once he exited, he saw the entire group of shepherds, all huddled around the entrance, eavesdropping on the conversation.

"What." He growled, and they all moved aside as Nathan made his way through. Chrom went to say something, but Sumia touched his shoulder.

"He needs some time to spend on his own, Chrom. He'll be fine." She told the man. Chrom looked back to Nathan for a second, then sighed and nodded.

The shepherds dispersed back to their tents as Nathan walked off into the distance.

**Hey folks! Sorry about the lack of updates over the past while. I have all the way up to chapter 17 written and ready to edit, so I'll be uploading fairly regularly over the next while. Thanks for the support!**


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Lissa yawned loudly and stretched her arms, opening her eyes to look around her tent. She sleepily wandered out of bed to grab her staff; she figured it was a good idea to go check on Nathan in the infir-

As she said that, she remembered what had happened the night before. She never meant for any of that to happen, and still felt somewhat annoyed with the man as she thought he overreacted, but regardless she felt horrible for what had transpired. She felt tears starting to form in her eyes yet again.

Just then, she heard Chrom's voice from outside of the tent.

"Sis? Can I come in?" The man asked. Lissa sniffled and quickly called back, "Sure," trying to wipe her eyes to make herself more presentable.

Chrom entered the tent, and sat next to Lissa on her bed.

"You know, Nathan did have a point…you cry a lot." He mused. Lissa gave him a cold glare, and then sighed exasperatedly, flopping back onto her bed, and spreading out her arms.

"I can't help it! I just…get sad I guess…." She retorted. Chrom smiled, taking a seat on the bed next to his little sister.

"W-wait a second! When did he tell you that?" Lissa asked frantically, much to Chrom's amusement.

"Hm…a while back. He said something about you and wanting to help everyone?" He responded. Lissa thought to herself for a second, remembering what exactly Chrom was speaking on, when she healed Nathan's leg back in Regna Ferox.

"He does think quite highly of you, you know. He doesn't show it sometimes, but you mean a lot to him." Chrom told Lissa, maintaining eye contact to try and stress his point. "I think one of the reasons he got so mad at you is because he can't bear to see you upset, frankly." Chrom added with a nonchalant shrug.

Lissa frowned glumly. "I suppose that's supposed to mean I should apologize to him…"

Chrom laughed softly and nodded. "That is the general idea, yes…" He told his sister. "I'm sure he would appreciate it if you tried to grow up a bit."

Lissa sighed in defeat and nodded.

Chrom smiled at the Cleric. "Anyways, that's not the reason I'm here." He told her. "I'm giving you a bodyguard."

Lissa raised an eyebrow. "A bodyguard? Gods, Chrom, there's being protective and then there's just being annoying and overprotective, and I think this definitely falls in that category…" She whined. Chrom nodded solemnly.

"Normally I wouldn't do something like this, but…there's been a bounty, placed on your head. Apparently someone wants you dead." He told his sister, who gasped in shock.

"M-me?" Lissa gasped, her lips trembling. Chrom put a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down.

"You'll be fine. Lon'qu is a very capable swordsman, and I doubt anyone will try to harm you while you're under his watch." Chrom replied. She looked to the entrance of her tent, to see the Myrmidon standing there, who solemnly nodded at her. Lissa gulped and nodded back.

"Anyways, I need to go train…" Chrom muttered, standing up from the bed. "I'll leave you two to get to know each other." He added with a bit of a laugh, as he walked out of the tent.

Lissa and Lon'qu sat in an awkward silence. "So, uh…" Lissa began, "You're from Regna Ferox, right? What is it like there?"

Lon'qu frowned. "You were just there, were you not? Surely your time there allowed you to understand my people and our culture." He responded.

"Yeah…I guess so…." Lissa said with a sigh. "So much for easy conversation with this guy…" She thought to herself. She then came up with an idea. She looked over at Lon'qu, and waited until he was looking away to scoop up a frog from her small cage she kept underneath her bed.

"So…uh…how about a back rub?" She asked awkwardly, hiding the frog behind her back. She slowly inched closer to the swordsman, who backed away with each inch she advanced towards him.

"N-no thank you…" Lon'qu quickly replied, a tinge of red appearing on his cheeks. "I'll guard the tent from outside." He quickly decided, rushing out of the tent.

"Oh…okay…" Lissa muttered glumly, putting down her frog. She sighed. "Well, this guy isn't any fun…" She muttered to herself. "He is kinda hot though…and I have nothing better to do…and Nathan will probably still be angry at me when he gets back…" She mused with a sly grin. She thought to herself for a second, before declaring, "I'll go try to talk to him again!" And heading out of her tent to go find the man.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Chrom and the others had arrived back in Ylisse, where they learned of Maribelle's capture by the Plegians, and quickly made their way with Emmeryn to hopefully barley with King Gangrel and rescue the Troubadour. Lissa had gotten to know her bodyguard quite well at this point, and the two had slowly started to become friends, with Lon'qu even finally starting to warm up to her, not constantly flinching away when she sat next to him. However, she still worried about Nathan, as he still had yet to return or even send any word back to the group. Their marches had included many tough skirmishes with bandits over the past couple days without their master tactician.

Lissa snapped back to reality from a poke to her back. She turned around to see Lon'qu lightly tapping her shoulder to get her attention, a twinge of red appearing on his cheeks.

"W-we are here, Lissa. Prepare yourself." The swordsman told her. Lissa nodded to the man.

"Hey, you actually touched me!" She yelled to him as she realized, causing Lon'qu to blush an even deeper shade of red. She jumped over and hugged the man, causing him to quickly recoil and push his way out of the embrace, much to Lissa's disappointment.

"Y-yes…my fear of women is getting weaker as I spend more time with you." The man declared. He then quickly changed the subject. "But that is beside the point. Ready your things; bring your staff and tomes in case things go sour. I've been to enough negotiations to know that many can turn to battle in minutes."

Lon'qu was right for this situation. Gangrel made the unreasonable demand of the fire emblem in exchange for Maribelle. This caused Chrom to lose his temper, killing one of the Plegian men, and only the quick actions of the young mage Ricken, who had been hidden in the supply caravan, sneaking with the group, was able to save the life of the Troubadour. However, Gangrel quickly ordered his army to action afterwards, resulting in a full-scale tilt between the present Plegians and Shepherds. Lon'qu grunted as he deflected another arrow from hitting Lissa, who continued to cast her fire spell to ward off enemies. She turned around to notice a Plegian archer aiming for Lon'qu.

"Lon'qu! Over there!" She cried, but it was futile, as the archer unleashed his arrow, catching Lon'qu in the stomach, just as a bolt of lightning struck the archer down. Lissa ran over to the swordsman, catching him as he fell.

"Lon'qu! S-stay with me!" She cried out, tears welling up in her eyes as she grabbed her healing stave off of her back. Lon'qu grimaced and grunted, pulling the arrow out of his chest.

"I've…had worse, woman…" The swordsman panted.

"Damn, looks like my shot was too late…sorry Lon'qu, but you really should move to the back, go see Maribelle. I'll take care of Lissa from here." A familiar voice told him. The two looked up to see Nathan standing above them, who offered a hand to Lon'qu, who took it.

"You'll have to tell me about how you got on the shepherds after this battle …Donny! Take this guy to the caravans!" Nathan called, motioning to a young villager boy, wearing a rusty pot on his head and wielding a crudely made spear who ran over, taking Lon'qu from Nathan and helping the man off of the battlefield.

Nathan then turned around, avoiding eye contact with Lissa.

"Come on, let's move." He simply stated.

"But-" Lissa began, before Nathan sharply cut her off.

"No time, I'll explain everything later, Lon'qu will be fine. Let's just move." He told her through gritted teeth, before quickly dodging another arrow and firing a blast of Elfire back in return. Lissa nodded, strapping her staff to her back once again and pulling out her tome.

The battle ended quite shortly after Nathan's return, quickly changing the tide of the battle with his tactics. Nathan quickly slipped away from Lissa, before she could ask him about where he had gone, to go find Chrom. While riding the caravan back to Ylisstol, the princess went to look for Lon'qu, finding him being healed by Maribelle. The swordsman had passed out, but was going to be fine. She spent the ride home catching up with Maribelle, occasionally taking a peek at the caravan behind them, seeing Nathan talking and laughing with Donnel and Ricken. Maribelle raised an eyebrow when Lissa turned back to look at her.

"My goodness Lissa, have you seriously falling for that heathen?" Maribelle questioned, causing Lissa's face to turn a deep shade of red.

"I-I have not!" The princess quickly replied, to which Maribelle scoffed. She then turned to Lon'qu.

"What about _this _heathen, then?" She asked, causing Lissa's face to turn so red it looked as though she might burn up.

"I-I…okay, you might be right about both…" Lissa confessed. Maribelle clicked her tongue at her friend, wagging a finger at her playfully.

"Lissa, as your bosom buddy, I know all there is to be known about you, and I most certainly can tell when you have a crush on someone. Like Frederick, long ago!" The troubadour mentioned proudly. Lissa quickly tried to hush Maribelle, hoping that Nathan had heard none of that, and turning around to see the tactician still deeply engaged in conversation with Ricken and Donnel.

"D-don't tell him or anything, please? Both of them? And anyways, Nathan's still super mad at me right now…" Lissa pleaded to her friend. Maribelle let out a sly grin and nodded. She then frowned.

"Now, what reason would that strange man have to be mad at you, my beloved princess?" She questioned. Lissa sighed and looked at the ground.

"I…kind of got mad at him for saving my life, and, uh…everything didn't go too well after that." She confessed. Maribelle raised an eyebrow.

"Well…I suppose it's hard to fault him…" She mused. Lissa nodded.

"I still feel pretty bad about it, so I figured I should make it up to him…" She mentioned. Maribelle nodded in agreement.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Once they had arrived back in the capital, and were taking a bit of time to rest in castle Ylisse, Nathan decided to take the time to catch up with each of the shepherds, in order to try and find out what had happened while he was gone. As for himself, he had traveled a long ways before coming across a small village, where he met Donnell, one of the village boys, and helped him rescue his mother and the rest of the villagers from a group of bandits that had been attacking the small land. Soon after, he and Donnell headed together back to Ylisstol, to try and reunite with the shepherds, before hearing word of Maribelle's capture, where they met up with the others.

"…Oh, and some bandits burned my tent down as well, so I'm going to need a new one." Nathan declared to Chrom and Frederick, whom he was talking with in the castle's strategy room, explaining his story. Chrom nodded.

"Duly noted. We'll make arrangements on that eventually." He responded. Nathan nodded. Frederick then spoke up.

"You said you wanted to catch up with all of the shepherds, but I have a feeling you skipped someone…" The great Knight mentioned sternly. Nathan let out a loud groan.

"I know, I know, I should go talk to Lissa, get everything sorted out, I'm getting to it…" He grumbled.

Chrom laughed quietly at the man. "Hm? I thought you liked her!" He chided playfully. Nathan glared at the man, before letting out an exasperated sigh.

"I do, she just…annoys me, sometimes." He told his the prince. Chrom nodded.

"Understandable. Still, I think you should at least patch things up with her. She was quite upset after you left." He told the tactician, who sighed in defeat.

"Feelings are hard. Why couldn't dealing with girls be…easy?" He mused. Chrom laughed and nodded vigorously in agreement. Nathan then said goodbye to the two, before heading out to find Lissa.

Nathan found the princess in the courtyard of the castle, lying on the ground and staring up at the clouds.

"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know." Nathan joked playfully. Lissa looked up at him and giggled.

"I'm not just lying here, I'm cloud watching! You should try it some time, take some time to relax for once…" She told the man. Nathan rolled his eyes.

"I have better things to do than that," He snapped back. He then gave Lissa a serious gaze. "Actually, well, we need to talk. I think you know what about." He offered the princess a hand to help get up, which she took, and the two walked over to sit on a nearby bench.

"Can't we both just agree that we said some dumb things and move on with life?" Lissa asked the man. Nathan sighed and nodded.

"True, but I feel like I have to make it up to you. I'll give you one more favour to use, I guess…" He replied. Lissa's eyes widened.

"Really! Hee hee, I like the sound of that! You should get mad more often!" She chided. Nathan groaned and put his head in his hands.

"You really are something else aren't you…you really ought to try being serious for once." He muttered. Lissa scoffed.

"Being serious is no fun, especially around you, oh master tactician who doesn't know how to relax!" She responded, clearly irritated. The two glared at each other, before Lissa's mind came up with another prank. She sunk into the bench and let out a loud sigh.

"Well…I guess I should do something for you too…tell you what, I'll give you a free favour too, AND a free shoulder rub! How does that sound?" She told him. Nathan raised an eyebrow, but then smiled smugly, believing himself to have won over her.

"Alright, fine." He simply replied. He then sat on the ground in front of Lissa, who went to work on rubbing his shoulders.

"Geez, your muscles are just one big knot back here…" Lissa muttered to the tactician, who nodded.

"Yeah…oh man, I needed this…" He sighed, closing his eyes. As irritated with the princess as he was, he had to admit she was doing a great job with this.

Lissa moved her hands as she quickly let something slip from out of the sleeve of her gown and stuffed it down Nathan's collar. "How about…. this?" She asked.

Nathan jolted alert yet again, as he jumped up and tried to shake whatever was down his back out of his clothes.

"AAH, AAH, COLD! IT MOVED! WHAT IN BLAZES WAS THAT, LISSA!?" He cried out, while the Princess was doubled over in laughter.

Nathan frantically shook his leg and saw the small green creature hop out, and hop away. He turned back and glared at Lissa, who was rolling on the ground, snorting with laughter.

"Was that really necessary?" He snapped. Lissa had slightly calmed down now, and blew a raspberry at the tactician.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was, because it was hilarious!" She replied. Nathan rolled his eyes and glared at the princess. Normally he didn't mind her pranks, but with everything going on between them, it had really started to get on his nerves.

"I'm pretty sure it was not!" He growled. "And anyways, I thought you couldn't stand frogs!"

Lissa gave the man a playful wink. "I'll have you know I'm willing to put up with a lot for the sake of comedy." She replied. Nathan scoffed.

"Ugh…anyways, I'm going to go wash up and get all this frog smell off of me. See you never." He told her. The two glared at each other before going their separate ways.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

A week had gone by since Lissa's frog prank. She and Nathan had stopped talking altogether, with Nathan now spending more time with Ricken and Donnel, and Lissa spending her free time with Maribelle and Lon'qu. While an icy distance had developed between the tactician and the princess, Lissa had grown quite close to her bodyguard, even playfully flirting with the stoic swordsman. The two could often be seen together throughout the castle, talking with each other. The question had come up to Nathan about him and Lissa from all of the members of the shepherds, with Nathan tactfully dodging any clear responses. To be truthful, at this point he didn't know the answer to their questions either.

He knew that he still possessed feelings for the Princess, and also that there were strange things about her that always seemed to make him happy. But, at the same time, there was always a nagging thought in the back of his mind, telling him that he "just wasn't good enough" for her, or that a relationship between them "just wouldn't be right". He sat pondering these thoughts at his work desk within his tactician's office, in a tower high up in Castle Ylisse.

Nathan sighed with exasperation as he stood up from his chair and stretched out his arms.

"One last visit." He told himself. "I'll try to talk to her for a bit, see if we can't patch things up, and…" He trailed off as he exited the room and headed down to the courtyard to try and find where Lissa was.

Upon arriving in the main courtyard of the castle, Nathan realized that he had spent far too long within his tactic chambers, as the moon was out and glittering stars were flooding the night sky.

"So much for that," The tactician muttered to no one, and headed across the courtyard to get to his bedroom in the main part of the castle. As he made his way across the grassy area, however, he spotted Chrom standing outside, alone, staring off into the stars. Of course, Nathan found this quite odd, and headed over to talk to his friend.

"Doing some thinking, are we?" Nathan called, as he approached. Chrom turned to see the tactician, and sighed and nodded.

"After what happened with Gangrel…I've had a lot to think about." The prince replied. Nathan raised an eyebrow, curious at what Chrom was referring to.

"Would I be able to make a decision like that? With Maribelle, I mean. Could I really sacrifice a friend for the good of our people?" He said, cringing at the thought. Nathan looked up at the stars, putting a hand on the shoulder of his best friend.

"Could anyone?" He replied. "That's a decision which would scar anyone for life, no matter which option you take." He sighed heavily. "It's a tactician's worst nightmare, a decision with guaranteed casualties."

Chrom and Nathan locked eyes in silence for a moment.

"…Remind me to never offer to take on your post." Chrom told the man with a slight chuckle. The two laughed together loudly.

Nathan rubbed his hand on his chin, in thought. "Though…I suppose a decision like that will eventually come around again." He pondered. "I just hope Ricken is around to bail us out again." Chrom laughed softly, and nodded.

"Anyways, enough of the somber talk, have you given that ring to Sumia yet?" Nathan casually asked Chrom. The prince's face turned a deep shade of red, much to Nathan's amusement.

"Gods, not so loud!" Chrom sharply responded, frantically glancing around the courtyard to make sure no one else was around to hear.

"It's the dead of night, everyone is fast asleep." Nathan shot back. "So, answer my question, have you or not?"

Chrom shook his head. "I've been trying to bring it up, but every tine I do, she thinks I'm talking about pie and goes off to bake me another one…" He replied glumly. "Got any advice?" He asked hopefully.

Nathan shook his head. "You do remember that I'm two years younger than you, right? If anything, you should be giving me advice about your sister!" He told the man.

Chrom chuckled. "If you follow that theory, Frederick should know more about girls than either of us…" he said with a grin, and the two shared a hearty laugh.

"I hope you don't mind me interrupting your conversation about girls Fa-I mean Chrom, but there are things we need to discuss. Urgently." A voice said from beside the two men. Nathan and Chrom looked over to see Marth walking up to them. Chrom's hand slowly moved towards Falchion, as Nathan reached for his Levin sword.

"How did you get in here?" Chrom inquired, his fingers brushing the hilt of his blade. Marth gestured to the far wall in the courtyard, covered in brush.

"The hole in the east wall." The mysterious swordsman replied. Nathan glared, looking at Chrom.

"I thought you told me you 'covered that up'." He asked.

"I did!" Chrom snapped back. They both turned back towards Marth. "Anyways, what are you here for?" He asked.

"To warn you." Marth replied. "There is going to be an assassination attempt on the Exalt. Tonight."

Chrom raised an eyebrow. "How do we know you're telling the truth?" He asked skeptically.

Marth drew his sword. "I suspected you would not believe me. So…allow me to prove it to you…"

At the sight of Marth's sword drawn, Nathan and Chrom both drew theirs as well, but the masked swordsman waved them off. The warrior turned to Chrom. "I'm about to save your life. From him." Just then, a hooded assassin jumped out of the bushes near them, rushing towards Chrom. Marth tossed up his blade, jumping up along with it, before grabbing it and making a clean slash along the back of the assassin, killing him. "I trust…this proof will suffice?"

Chrom gulped and nodded. Just then, another assassin leapt out from the trees nearby. Marth, being caught off guard, tried to step out of the way, before slipping on the sword of the deceased assassin at his feet, fell back as the assassin's blade reached his mask. Chrom ran up to the assassin, quickly running his blade through them. He then turned back to Marth, looking up in surprise.

"You…you're a woman?" He stated in shock. The lack of mask had revealed a young female face, with long dark blue hair, the same colour as Chrom's. The swordsman opened her mouth to say more, but was cut off by a sudden sound of a loud yell from deeper within the castle.

"Let's go!" Nathan called to the other two, who all rushed towards the sound.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 14 Part two

Nathan, Chrom, and Marth rushed into the throne room to see a hooded assassin about to stab Emmeryn, with the exalt huddled against her throne. Before the three could make a movement to attack, a blast of fire shot from another corner of the room incinerated the man. They looked to the side to see Lon'qu and Lissa rushing in, with Lissa clutching her Fire tome. Frederick, Ricken, Donnel and Sumia came trailing in after.

"W-what is going on?" Emmeryn called out.

Chrom looked over to his sister. "Sorry, Emm, no time to explain. There's a band of assassins within the castle, and you appear to be their target."

"Where are the others?" Nathan pressed, as Lon'qu, Chrom and Marth ran to secure the door of the throne room.

"I sent them to defend other areas of the castle, to make sure that no more of these vermin get in." Frederick replied as he readied his lance.

Nathan nodded, turning to those who were there, his brain scrambling to come up with a strategy for their peculiar position. "Ricken, Donnel, stay here in the throne room with Marth, make sure Emmeryn remains guarded. Chrom and Sumia, press up the left hall from here. Lissa and Lon'qu can handle the right. Frederick and I can press up the central hall from here."

Chrom shook his head worriedly. "We don't have enough manpower for this to quite work."

Just then, a strange beast, with glowing red eyes, and long ears, burst into the throne room from the side entrance. Nathan quickly drew his Levin sword, and was about to strike before Marth held him back, yelling, "…Hold! Panne is not your enemy!"

Nathan gave a quizzical look to Marth, still pointing his sword at the mysterious beast before them. "How do you know this…thing?" He asked.

Marth sighed, blushing slightly. "Er…it's hard to explain. But I know that Panne is on your side tonight."

Nathan looked back at the beast to see that it had transformed, and in its place stood a tall woman, clad in purple armour, with long ears and a shapely body with features that closely resembled that of a rabbit.

"I am not a beast, filthy man-spawn." Panne spat at the tactician.

Nathan, taken aback, quickly stuttered, "M-my apologies…Panne, was it? What exactly…are you?"

Panne opened her mouth to speak, before Chrom cut her off, stepping between the two. "We have no time for this! We NEED to get rid of the scum within the castle, let's MOVE!" He sharply yelled.

Nathan nodded. "Right." He replied. "Panne, if you wouldn't mind, head down the middle hall with Frederick, I'll head with Lissa and Lon'qu down the right side. If all goes well, we should all meet up again in the outer courtyard."

"TO ARMS, Shepherds!" Chrom called, and the groups charged forth.

Nathan, Lissa, and Lon'qu rushed down the castle corridors, quickly cutting down any enemy warriors who stood in their way like a well-oiled machine. Nathan and Lon'qu made for an excellent duo, knowing each other's battle tendencies from sparring in Regna Ferox, and quickly tore through the bands of assassins who stood before them with their swords. Lissa followed closely behind, throwing out blasts of fire at any of the enemy warriors who failed to pay attention to her.

As the group finally ran into the courtyard, Nathan looked over to see a sharp bolt of lightning magic heading straight for Lon'qu's head. Nathan frantically cried out to the myrmidon before jumping in the way, deflecting the blast off his Levin sword, which created a dent in his blade, causing the constant lightning that once circled it to fizzle out.

"Thanks…" Lon'qu told the tactician, panting.

Nathan looked back at the man, and grinned slightly, holding up his now broken blade. "You owe me…a new sword…" He replied between pants. The two laughed before Lissa cried, "Look out!"

Nathan looked up to see a tall dark-haired man, dressed in black robes that looked eerily similar to his own cloak, charging up a powerful sphere of dark magic, which he held above his head, ready to strike. However, he did not cast it just yet. He seemed puzzled as he stared at Nathan, who readied his dulled blade.

"Oh ho…I know you…" The mysterious sorcerer told Nathan, who glared.

"How? Who the hell are you?" He growled in response.

"Come now, I can't tell you that…" The man mockingly teased. "But if you want to know, fight me, and perhaps I will grace you with the truth about your past, and your true purpose!" He cast his spell, which Nathan blocked with a wall of fire, created from his arcfire tome. He cast a blast of his Elthunder tome back at his opponent, which the man deflected.

"You'll have to do better than that, Nathan…" The sorcerer replied, readying another one of his dark tomes.

"Oh no he won't!" A familiar voice cried out from behind the man. The sorcerer turned around just in time to see Chrom's falchion pierce his stomach. The man coughed up blood before collapsing onto the ground, dead. Strangely enough, his body was enveloped in a purple fog and disintegrated before them.

"Are you guys alright?" Chrom asked, as Sumia flew in behind him on his Pegasus. Another man followed them, wearing brown clothing and sucking on a lollipop.

"We're fine, thanks." Lon'qu panted.

"Who was that guy?" Chrom asked, turning to Nathan, who looked troubled and frustrated.

Nathan flung his sword to the ground in disgust. "He…he knew who I was, Chrom…" The tactician told the prince, who gasped in surprise. Nathan held his head in his hands. "Who…who am I?" He muttered in distress before running off, back into the castle, before anyone could say anything.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The day after the run-in with the band of assassins, the decision had been made to escort Emmeryn to a more secure location. The shepherds had set up camp in a dense forest, before trekking through the mountains the next day. Nathan had been asked by Chrom and Frederick to meet them in the strategy tent once everything was set up, so he took the time to help some of the others with pitching their tents, after remembering that he had lost his to bandits a few weeks before. The tactician took the time to catch up with each of his fellow shepherds, except for Lissa, whose tent he made an effort to avoid. From talking to Chrom, even the prince and Frederick were getting tired of his constant avoidance of the princess, and the subject came up in every one of Nathan's conversations with the shepherds, which he quickly avoided and changed the subject. He was even frustrated with himself, unable to come to terms with his feelings for his best friend's sister.

Once he finally made his way to the Strategy tent, he looked around and saw Chrom and Frederick standing on one side of the main table, with Lissa standing on the other. His eyes widened, trying to figure out why she was there? Gods forbid, did Chrom and Frederick tell her about his crush on her? Beads of sweat started to form on his forehead as he walked over and stood beside Lissa, simply giving her a curt nod, which she returned. He then turned to Chrom and Frederick.

"So? What's up?" He asked. Chrom and Frederick looked at each other, seeming to visually try to force the other to talk, until Frederick finally spoke up.

"Well…since you are in need of a tent, sir Nathan…and Milady here is in need of a bodyguard, we figured it may be a good idea for the two of you to bunk together?" He told the two shakily.

A brief awkward silence filled the room, before Nathan, now beet red, simply looked at Chrom.

"…What?" He said in a monotone voice.

"Hey, since when am I in need of a bodyguard? I thought that was Lon'qu's job?" Lissa pressed.

Chrom looked over to Lissa. "It WAS, but he requested a change if possible." Chrom continued, "There is still the bounty on Lissa's head, and until then, she needs someone to watch her. And you, for the moment, need somewhere to sleep. So I'd prefer to kill two birds with one stone, and Lon'qu has already done his fair share of watching Lissa, and deserves a break." He said. "Fair enough?"

Nathan sighed in defeat. "Fine." He muttered.

Lissa let out a glum sigh as well, and grabbed at Nathan's cloak to pull him along. "Come on, I'll take you to my tent so you can unpack…" She said quietly. The two quickly shuffled out together.

Once they were gone, Chrom turned to Frederick.

"Did you ever suspect that would be the reaction we got from those two after saying they can share a tent?" He asked the Great Knight, who chuckled and shook his head.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Nathan grabbed what few things he had brought with him, and followed Lissa to her tent. Once they got inside, he took a second to look around the space, always astonished at how big her tent was. Chrom and Frederick really did go out of their way to make sure she had the best. He picked a spot in the far corner, away from Lissa's large bed and dresser. He silently thanked himself for Miriel coming up with the compression spell that allowed them to store everything inside of the tents, while having them be able to be folded up and carried around no matter what was inside. He had a feeling that all of this would still be a part of Lissa's tent from Chrom and Frederick's fussing over her, and would be quite a pain to bring around.

"So…" Lissa muttered, snapping Nathan out of his thoughts and back to reality, looking over at the Princess.

"Hm?" He replied. "What is it?"

"How are we going to do this?" Lissa asked. "I mean, being together all the time. You're busy with strategy all the time, right? How can we make this work?"

Nathan rubbed his chin in concentration. "I suppose we'll have to compromise. I can take my papers with me if I have to, but for the most part, we'll just split time 50-50. I'll take time for my work, and we'll do time for…whatever it is you do." He told her. Lissa nodded in agreement.

"Alright, sounds fair." She replied. "Oh! And another thing…" She added. Nathan raised an eyebrow.

"C-can you teach me more magic? I really feel like it makes me more useful as a shepherd, so I'd really appreciate it…" Lissa timidly asked the man. Nathan smiled warmly and nodded. He found it quite strange, how quickly a simple conversation with the princess could re-ignite his feelings for her. He cursed himself for not having the guts to talk to her earlier.

"Sure. But, you have to teach me about how to 'relax' like you do," Nathan replied with a playful wink, getting a giggle out of Lissa.

"Deal!" She replied, holding out a hand for Nathan to shake, which he took before quickly recoiling when he felt something cold and slimy in her hand.

"Waugh!" He yelled, pulling his hand back. Lissa laughed as she let the frog she was holding hop away.

"Gods…how many of those do you have?" Nathan muttered. Lissa motioned him over to his bed, where she lifted the flap underneath to reveal a bucket of water filled with weeds and frogs.

"I could've sworn you said you hate frogs, and that they're cold, slimy and gross…" Nathan recalled with a frown, to which Lissa giggled.

"I do hate them, but I'm willing to put up with a lot for the sake of comedy!" She playfully responded. Nathan sighed with a slight smile, shaking his head.

"Tell you what, how about: I'll only teach you magic if you stop pranking me. One prank and the deal is off." The tactician proposed sternly. Lissa sighed in defeat and nodded.

"Fiiine." She responded. "It's better than having you mad at me, anyways. It's no fun when we're mad at each other."

Nathan laughed quietly and nodded. "So, how about we take these frogs to the pond, and then head to a meadow and get in some practice? I have a couple fresh new tomes that we can test out." He said, to which Lissa grinned happily, and agreed. The two then walked out of the tent together, with Nathan carrying Lissa's large bucket of frogs.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Lissa had to admit, things were much more fun when Nathan was happy with her and not angry. The two made for quite a pair, taking the time to talk to everyone in the camp each day. His presence by her side had helped her forget about her worries for Emmeryn, who had decided to head back to Ylisstol after the group was ambushed by Plegian soldiers. At the moment, the shepherds were headed for Regna Ferox again, to rally more troops and supplies in case of war.

The journey to the northern region was always long and arduous, with the group nearing the colder territory yet again. Over the days, Nathan dragged Lissa to his strategy meetings at the crack of dawn with Chrom and Frederick, which the princess had quite a bit of fun with that one day, by pretending to be asleep (The trick always seemed to work on Nathan), who carried her on his back to the strategy meeting. Her feelings for the man were growing even stronger, and she needed to find some sort of way to find out if those feelings were returned.

Nathan, however, was left wondering the same thing. He knew that Lon'qu and Lissa had become good friends while he was gone, but didn't know anything else beyond that, and had tried to inadvertently ask Maribelle about if Lissa liked anyone, it ended up with Maribelle trying to learn about how "Common folk like him" went about life.

"Nathan. Stay focused." A deep voice said from in beside him.

Nathan snapped back to reality, looking over at Lon'qu, who was standing next to him. The two were standing in an open field, with a target set up far from them. Nathan saw the tome in his hand, and remembered that he was practicing with Lon'qu on trying to hit moving targets. The myrmidon was trying to learn how to use a bow, which was, unfortunately, not going too well, evidenced by the stray arrows throughout the field. Lissa was off at her teatime with Maribelle, which Nathan usually spent going out to train in an area near Maribelle's tent, which at this time was the field.

"Right." Nathan responded, readying his tome yet again, and firing a blast of lightning at the dummy, just nicking the arm of the wooden figure. He then came up with an idea.

"Lon'qu?" The tactician casually asked, to which the man simply grunted after missing the target with his arrow yet again.

"What is it, is there something bothering you?" The man replied. Nathan nodded.

"It's…complicated." He said. Lon'qu grunted again, his arrow going wide of the mark yet again.

"Well tell me, and I will do my best to help you solve your issue." Lon'qu replied.

"Well…" Nathan began, "You're a good-looking, able-bodied man, so I'm sure you've been with many a woman. How do you tell if they…like you?"

Lon'qu's face turned a bright red, taken off guard by the question. "Er…" He replied. "I'm afraid I can't help you with that problem."

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Wait, what?" He said. "But, how could you have never at least been with anyone?"

He pondered for a moment. "Are…are you gay? Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm just wondering."

Lon'qu glared at the man, clearly flustered by the conversation. "No, I am not! I'm just, well… I have a phobia of women." He confessed.

The two stood in silence for a moment, before Nathan burst out in laughter. "A…a fear of women?! Oh gods, Lon'qu…that's a good one…" He looked back at the man to see a solemn face. "Oh…you're serious." The swordsman nodded.

"But, when we fight, I've had you paired up with women in many battles…hell, you were hanging out with Lissa the past few weeks as well…does it not affect you in battle?" Nathan asked.

Lon'qu shook his head in response. "Only at times. And as for Lissa, Ricken was able to work up some sort of potion for me, which I used to withstand her presence and touch. " He said with a slight shudder. "As of late, I've been working with Maribelle to try and get over my fear of women. My training has become more intensive, and, quite frankly…" The myrmidon blushed. "…I've gained feelings for the woman as well. This is why I requested a leave from protecting Lissa."

Nathan nodded, taking in all the information he was given. The two stood in an awkward silence, before Lissa called out to Nathan from the entrance to Maribelle's tent.

"Naaatieeee, it's time to go!" She shouted.

"Be there in a second!" The tactician shouted back. He gathered his belongings, before running to meet the princess. "We'll spar sometime later!" Nathan yelled back to Lon'qu, who nodded, still flustered from the last conversation.

Nathan walked over to Lissa, and pulled out his small notebook, where he wrote down his daily schedule. "So…next is my time, and I need to go plan out some new march strategies. Let's head back to the tent?" He asked the princess. Lissa giggled, and shook her head.

"I don't think so, mister, I'm going to teach you how to relax right now!" She told him. Nathan raised an eyebrow.

"Um, I'm pretty sure this is my time though…" He told her. Lissa shook her head again.

"This won't work unless you put off doing work. Now, come with me mister, we're going cloud watching!" Lissa told him, grabbing Nathan's hand and dragging him with her. Nathan sighed in defeat and followed the princess.

Lissa finally stopped when the two had reached a small hill in the middle of the grassy field. She flopped down on the grass, and motioned to Nathan to lie down next to her. The two stared up into the sky in silence for a moment, before Nathan spoke.

"So…are we relaxing yet? And a better question…are we done yet?" He asked the princess, who rolled her eyes.

"No, not yet, silly…" She told him.

"Alright, so what do we do?" Nathan asked.

Lissa pointed up to the clouds. "You look at the clouds, and you describe what you think they look like!" She told the man. Nathan was slightly amused at this, and looked around before pointing at a larger, puffy cloud.

"Well, I'll start then," He declared, "That one looks like the villager protection secondary formation. Oh, and look, there's the primary pair-up attack formation! And there's a Pegasus standard recon flight path! You're right, this is fun!"

"Ha ha. Very funny." Lissa dryly replied. Nathan's brow furrowed, and he looked over at the princess.

"What's funny? I'm telling you what I'm seeing." Nathan responded with a serious tone. Lissa looked into Nathan's eyes, and then groaned.

"Oh gods, you're serious…" She muttered. The princess then took Nathan's hand yet again, turning both of their faces red again.

"Here, I'll show you how it's done. See that cloud?" Lissa asked. Nathan nodded.

"It looks like a dragon. That or a cavalier helmet." She told the man. Nathan squinted at the cloud for a second, then smiled.

"I…I think I see it." He replied. He then pointed to the cloud next to it. "That one…looks like Ricken's pointy mage hat!" He proudly declared.

Lissa giggled. "Hey, that was actually good!" She told him, and the two shared a laugh.

Lissa then quickly remembered that they were still holding hands, and turned red again before quickly removing her hand from his.

"Hey, uh…we don't have to stop holding hands…" Nathan said, blushing thickly as he looked at the princess. Her eyes widened as she looked back at the man, who quickly added, "Well, I mean, if you don't want to stop of course, you don't have to if you don't want to – I think it helps me think though-" He was cut off by Lissa quickly grasping his hand firmly again, and the two giggled at each other, with both of their faces a bright red. Nathan then turned back to the sky, pointing at a cloud.

"You know what that one is?" He asked. Lissa squinted at the cloud for a few seconds before shaking her head.

"No, what do you think it is?" She asked.

"It's a distraction." Nathan replied. Lissa then felt something slimy and wet wriggling on her hand which was entwined with Nathan's.

"EEYARGH!" She screamed as she recoiled her hand out of his grasp, as Nathan rolled on the grass in laughter. She looked down at where his hand was and saw a large worm wriggle away into the dirt.

Lissa looked at Nathan with a glare for a second, before it turned into a smile and he laughed along.

"I have to admit, that was pretty good!" She told the man. Nathan gave her a playful wink.

"I learned from the best, after all," He replied. "Now then, shall we get back to our cloud watching? I swear there isn't anything up my sleeve this time." He asked as he offered her his hand again, which she took as they lay back down in the grass, staring up at the clouds.


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Nathan and Lissa spent the entire afternoon out cloud watching, and were gone from the camp for so long that Chrom had to come find them to bring them back for dinner. As Lissa skipped happily ahead of the two, Chrom quickly turned to Nathan.

"I haven't had a chance to mention this, but this is my favour to you for what happened the other day, with that assassin." He told the man.

Nathan's brow furrowed. "You didn't have to do anything, that was an accident," He replied. "And besides, we don't even really know if he knew anything about me…"

Chrom shrugged. "I guess. But this was the only way to get you to talk to Lissa again, anyways."

Nathan scratched his head. "Now, there's something I don't get. Why are you so obsessed with getting us together?" He asked. Chrom laughed softly, putting his arm around his best friend so Lissa couldn't hear them, who was humming and skipping along ahead of them.

"Plenty of reasons." He replied. Nathan opened his mouth to protest, but Chrom continued. "Well, first off, she's your friend. I mean, we're friends too, but it's a different relationship between the two of us than it is between you two. You two are the same age, and, frankly, seem to have more in common, judging from how often I've been pranked over the last few days…"

Nathan laughed sheepishly. "Is it really our fault that you leave your tent without some sort of magic to keep it sealed? That's pretty much just asking to be pranked."

Chrom rolled his eyes and continued his talk. "Secondly, it's not like I can stop Lissa from finding a man forever. She's getting to that age, and I'd rather she pick someone I know and trust than anyone else."

Nathan nodded.

"Lastly, Lissa…. had a talk. With Frederick and I." Chrom told the tactician, who raised an eyebrow. Chrom scratched his head sheepishly. "Well, it was less of a talk and more of Lissa yelling at us. A lot about us being too protective of her. Her saying she can take care of herself just fine. And, at some point, Frederick, true to form, brought you up." Nathan groaned loudly.

"…And…?" He pressed.

"…He talked about us having to protect her from you 'stealing her purity'." Chrom told the man with a long sigh.

Nathan let out a loud raucous laugh. "I thought he said he was okay with us, as long as you were fine with it?" The tactician asked the prince.

Chrom sighed and shook his head. "He did. I asked him about it, and apparently he couldn't keep his silence any longer. He said it was his duty as a knight to protect us, or something like that."

Chrom continued. "Anyways, then the tables turned in our conversation. Lissa and I started arguing with him about being too protective of us, and I ended up saying that whatever makes us happy should make him happy. And if you make Lissa happy, then he should do his best to support her. After that, he came up with the idea of you and her sharing a tent after Lissa had left, and, that's that."

Nathan looked up at Chrom and gave him a solemn nod. "Thank you. I really mean it. I promise to never harm your sister." Chrom grinned back and nodded, before taking his arm off the tactician and looking up at the now setting sun.

"So…do I get some sort of payment in return for helping to set you two up?" He whispered to the man, elbowing him playfully.

Nathan groaned. "You sound like Gaius…" He muttered. Chrom laughed.

"Well, except he'd be asking for the finest lollipops in the land…anyways, you have asked her out already, right? Or something like that?" The prince prodded at the tactician, who sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"Er…not exactly…thing is, I don't know how to ask…" Nathan replied. Chrom looked over at him for a minute, his brow furrowing as they both wondered about the same predicament.

"Yeah, I'm not really sure either." Chrom concluded. "I'm still trying to figure out how to propose to Sumia, but whenever I plan on doing it, the nerves get the better of me and I back out." He explained in frustration. The prince looked up in thought. "I don't suppose you have some sort of book somewhere that explains how to deal with girls, do you?" He asked the tactician, who snorted in surprise before letting out a raucous laugh.

"G-gods no, Chrom… I hope you weren't serious in asking that…" He retorted through laughter. Chrom gritted his teeth.

"Well, I was actually half serious…I'll take any advice I can get at this point…" He told the tactician, who nodded in agreement.

"Well, I hear Cordelia has a book called 'How to make men fall for you in a fortnight', you could always borrow it and practice on Frederi-OW!" Nathan told Chrom before the man whacked him on the back of the head. The two laughed before entering the camp again.

Much later in the night, Frederick had taken it upon himself to prepare a large campfire in the center of the camp, and pulled up logs, which he had also chopped down himself, for people to sit on around the fire. Different shepherds all made their way to the area, and were engaged in different conversations around the fire. Chrom was discussing some sort of fight with Vaike, with Nathan overhearing something about a "cooking challenge". He took a mental note not to accept any food from either of the two over the next while. He took the empty seat near Donnel, Lon'qu, and Maribelle, with the latter two, much to the tactician's surprise, sitting next to each other, holding hands, deep in conversation. Nathan quickly turned to Lon'qu, giving him a quizzical look. The swordsman turned to him, looking down at his hand, and back to Nathan, blushing deeply.

"Er…it's….part of an experiment…" He muttered.

Nathan grinned back at his friend, before patting his shoulder and turning to Donnel to talk about their day's events. He recalled that Lissa was off bathing with Sumia and Sully, so he took the chance to tell them about his time with her through the day.

"Huh." Donnel said. "So, ya really like that princess then?" Nathan nodded.

"How 'bout that!" Donnel yelled, puffing up his chest. "I'm friends with someone who's gonna marry **Royalty**!"

The others sitting around the fire all turned over to Donnel and Nathan. The tactician turned a deep shade of red.

"Er…" Nathan quickly scrambled to figure out an excuse. His face got redder with every second of people staring at him, all with huge grins plastered on their faces.

"Hey, why isn't anyone talking? Are you guys really that lost without us?" A familiar voice called from behind Nathan.

Nathan breathed a sigh of relief as Lissa, Sumia and Sully came up to the campfire. While Sumia quickly ran to sit next to Chrom, and Sully walked to talk with Virion, Stahl and Vaike, Lissa walked over to Nathan, with a sweet smile on her face, and, to the tactician's surprise, wrapped her arms around his shoulders before pulling him into a hug from behind, her cheeks brushing up against his own. Nathan slightly recoiled at first before leaning back and grinning back at the blonde cleric, his face now as bright red as the flames off the fire.

"Er, random hugs are nice Lissa, but now is not the best time…" He whispered to her, slightly nodding his head to the groups of people around the fire, now staring at them once again, with even bigger grins on their faces.

"HEY!" Donnel cried out, glaring at those watching them. "Didn't all yer parents ever teach any of ya some manners? Give the couple some privacy now, eh?"

Donnel turned to Nathan and Lissa, whose glares were nearly piercing through the country boy's skull. "I got yer back, Nater." Donnel replied with a wink.

The entire group sat in an awkward silence for a few moments, before bursting out in laughter. Nathan held his head in his hands, while Lissa's face turned the deepest shade of red, and Donnel simply sat with a confused look, wondering what was going on.

Nathan sighed deeply. "…You really have no clue as to what's going on here, do you…" He asked his friend.

Donnel sat for a moment and pondered, until he cried out, "OHHH, so you two AREN'T dating!"

Nathan nodded.

Donnel then turned to Lissa, getting down on all fours and groveling at her feet. "My dearest apologies, Princess Lissa, er, ah did not mean teh accuse you of having a relationship with such a lowborn man such as Nathan! M-my most sincere apologies!"

Nathan raised an eyebrow, before laughing. "Well, I don't think we can help you sort this situation out, Don-don." He told the man. He turned to Lissa. "We should go for a walk, and sort this all out." She nodded vigorously, eager to get away from all the watching eyes around the fire.


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Nathan and Lissa walked out towards the outskirts of the camp. The awkward silence between the two was only interrupted by the hoots of owls up in the trees surrounding the camp, and the scraping of the shoes of the two against the dirt.

Nathan was the first to break the silence. "So…about that…" He began. His mind was racing with panic, trying to figure out how he could cover up what had just happened.

"…Yes?" Lissa asked eagerly. She, on the other hand, could hardly contain her excitement. For the longest time now she had been working on getting Nathan to like her, since her and Chrom found him in the field. Even though there had been rough patches in their relationship at times, in the end she had fallen in love with his humorous attitude at times, and his dedication to the wellbeing of the shepherds, not to mention that rubbery thing that he did with his face. She twisted her pigtail in nervousness. Even in the dark, she could see the sweat and blush on her friend as they walked, and could tell he was unsure of what to say.

At that moment, a combination of fatigue, stress, and lack of experience in the situation caused Nathan's tactical mind to fail him. "Er…so…Donnel was just joking around! I told him about us holding hands when we were cloud watching, and he was just trying to make a joke out of it by blowing everything out of proportion! Hahahaha…." Nathan told Lissa, laughing awkwardly. "We're just friends, right?" He asked the princess.

At that moment, Lissa felt as though her spirit was crushed. Not wanting to show Nathan, she simply smiled her normal grin, and nodded. "Uh…y-yep!" She replied.

"Uh…I just remembered there was something I had to do back at the camp! I can make it back on my own, so I'll see you later!" Lissa told the man, and before he could respond, she ran back to the camp, leaving him standing alone under the moon.

Hours later, when everyone was heading to sleep, Chrom realized that Nathan and Lissa had never returned to the campfire. Worried about them and wanting to make sure they were ok, he got up from his bed, strapping on Falchion just in case, and exited his tent. The prince tiptoed his way across the camp, skipping past Lissa and Nathan's shared tent (If they were in there, he thought it might be best to stay away), and made his way to where Lissa and Nathan had last been seen walking off.

As he trudged down the path, he heard loud yells and powerful hacks of a sword. He drew Falchion and headed for the noise, only to find Nathan, using a bronze sword and cutting away at a tree. Chrom could tell the tactician had been at this for quite some time, with Nathan's blade being somewhat bent and very dulled at this point, with many chips in the metal now covering the sword. The tree he had been slashing at had been cut crudely, simply struck by powerful slashes, missing parts of bark and covered in deep indents where Nathan's blade had struck.

"…Judging from this, I'd assume things did not go well." Chrom stated.

Nathan, covered in sweat and tears, looked over at Chrom. "I…froze…up." He said between pants. "I got nervous…and I couldn't tell her. Augh, gods, why?"

Chrom looked at Nathan with a serious expression. "We all get nervous." He said flatly. "Frankly, it's nice to see that you're human, and have some limitations." He joked.

Nathan laughed quietly. "Yeah…but…what do I do now?" He asked.

Chrom shrugged. "I think we've established that neither of us know what we're doing here…"

The tactician sighed. "Right. Stupid question."

Chrom motioned to Nathan, and the two walked in silence back to the camp.


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Unfortunately for Nathan, life did not give him a chance to retry his confession to Lissa just yet. The day after their talk, news came to the group that Emmeryn had been captured by Plegia, and was to be executed. At this point, the tactician was, of course, instantly drawn back to only commuting between the strategy room and his tent, constantly looking through possible strategies and formations to prepare for the inevitable battle against Plegia's forces, while also looking for a way to fight without endangering the life of the exalt. Chrom and Frederick even pitched in to help him buy a replacement tent for himself so he could concentrate on his own, with Frederick taking over the duties of watching Lissa (Much to the princess' dismay).

Free time, for Nathan, had become a nonexistent event, to the point where various shepherds would stop by to drop off his supper, have a quick two minute chat, and then allow Nathan to head back to his planning.

In the evening of one night, while looking over records of Plegian executions, and also scanning through a book on Plegian culture to try and find out how the execution may be performed, the tactician heard familiar voices yelling from the tent pitched next to his.

"By the GODS, Frederick! Going over to Maribelle's for tea won't get me KILLED!"

"But Milady, please reconsider! These assassins, looking to kill you, they could have done anything! What if they poisoned Miss Maribelle's tea? What if the invitation she gave you for tea was secretly given by an impostor, and this is all just an elaborate scheme to- MILADY DON'T DRINK THAT, IT COULD BE POISONED!"

"IT'S WATER, FREDDY! FROM YOUR CONTAINER!"

Nathan trudged over, rubbing his eyes and yawning loudly as he opened the flap to Lissa's tent and stepped inside. He looked up to see Lissa and Frederick fighting over the Great Knight's leather flask.

"Hey, uh…guys?" Nathan muttered, yawning again. He couldn't remember the last night he got any actual sleep in, one that wasn't just him falling asleep at his desk. Lissa took her hands off the flask when she saw the man, which Frederick quickly deposited back on his belt.

"Huh? What is it, Nathan?" Lissa inquired, trying her best to act innocent, as if nothing had gone on.

"Well, my tent is right next to yours, and I really need to work right now, so could you both please try to keep the noise down?" Nathan told the two.

"Of course, Milord." Frederick replied. "But I must do what I must to ensure Milady Lissa's safety-"

Lissa was about to start yelling again at the overprotective knight captain before Nathan quickly cut her off. "- I understand that, Freddy, but let her go visit Maribelle. Trust me, she'll be fine. Lon'qu's tent is right next to them, and nothing gets past that man. In the meantime, I'm sure Chrom could use your help with…uh…. raising troop morale. This is quite the battle we are headed into."

Frederick nodded, and puffed up his chest, triumphantly saying, "Ah, if Lord Chrom requires my assistance, I will do what I must to help him in this endeavour!"

The great knight then quickly ran off to find the prince. Nathan turned to Lissa.

"Come find me if he gives you any more trouble like that, I'll do my best to sort him out." He told the princess. Lissa nodded with a small grin.

"Thanks." She quickly replied, before turning to find her staff to bring with her to Maribelle's tent.

"Oh, and one other thing…" Nathan began. Lissa turned around.

"Yeah?"

"About the other day…things are too busy at the moment, but there are things we need to discuss regarding what happened. We'll clear that up soon enough." Nathan told the princess, whose mouth widened into a huge grin. Nathan's face turned red as quickly as lighting a match.

"Alrighty!" Lissa happily replied, pleased at the opportunity to undo the other night's events. The blonde cleric then walked over to Nathan, pulling him into a quick surprise hug.

"Try not to work too hard, okay? I thought I taught you how to relax at times!" Lissa told the man, before bolting off through the camp.

Nathan sighed. He was bewildered at how Lissa could be so energetic even when her Sister was in danger. "So many people are counting on me…I can't let them down." The man muttered to himself, before he headed back to his tent.


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The shepherds traveled at a frenetic pace, tearing across Plegia. On the way to face Gangrel and his army, the group came across fanatics known as the Grimleal, worshippers of the divine dragon Grima. The shepherds easily disposed of them, with a manakete named Nowi and a sellsword named Gregor who happened to join the battle. Now, the army was now finally closing in on Gangrel's palace. After receiving word that the execution would be taking place later in the day from Gaius and Lon'qu, who had scouted ahead, Nathan summoned the shepherds to his tent for a strategy meeting before the battle. Basilio and Flavia, the East and West Khan of Regna Ferox, joined them as well, with their forces supporting Ylisse in the fight against Plegia.

Nathan, Chrom, and Frederick stood at the front of the crowded tent. Multiple maps of Plegia were spread out on the large table in front of them, covered in writing and symbols. Once everyone was assembled, Chrom looked to Nathan and nodded.

"What's the plan?" The prince eagerly inquired, anxious to go save his older sister.

Nathan looked down, pushing aside the other maps until he found the one of Plegia's palace and execution grounds. "So, thanks to the information we gained from Gaius and Lon'qu earlier today (He quickly nodded to the two), Emmeryn is to be executed from up here…" The tactician pointed to a circled stone cliff on the map. "I think it's best for the shepherds main group to enter from here…"

The strategy meeting took around an hour to complete, which was much quicker than normal, thanks to Nathan doing his best to save as much time as possible, and everyone, for once, giving the man their full attention during the meeting. Normally Frederick would walk around, shaking awake those who had dozed off during the meeting, as only he and the tactician seemed to be the only ones who paid attention during the gatherings.

As the shepherds all dispersed to prepare for the confrontation ahead, Nathan made his way back to his tent and slumped down in his seat, putting his head in his hands. He always tried his best to conceal his stress, and his tent was one of the best places to let it out. He let out a loud sigh as he shook his head.

There were so many factors that he had to balance in the ever changing battlefield, and having to juggle Emmeryn's life as well made for an even more stressful situation. He prayed to Naga that their plan might just work.

He laid back his head to look at the roof of his tent, and he stared up at the face of a familiar princess smiling down at him.

"EEYARGH! Gods, Lissa! A simple 'hello' would have sufficed…" Nathan cried in surprise.

Lissa snorted loudly as she laughed. "Haha, I knew that would do it!"

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Do what?" He inquired.

"That rubbery thing your face does sometimes." Lissa replied.

"Er…what?" Nathan asked again, even more confused now.

"There! You did it again!" Lissa cried out with a giggle. She then grabbed Nathan's face, pulling on his cheeks. "Looks kinda like…this…yeah!"

"Litha, I cabt shee whabth my fashe looksh like widdout a mirrow…" Nathan mumbled, his words being jumbled by Lissa pulling on his cheeks.

Lissa sighed before letting go of the man's face. "I know, I know…" She mumbled. Nathan could see her hands slightly trembling.

"We'll save your sister. I promise." Nathan told Lissa, taking her hand and standing up to look her in the eyes. "By tonight, we'll be exchanging stories with her on the way back to Ylisse!" He declared.

Lissa's lips trembled as she formed a small smile. "A-alright." She said. Their eyes locked for a second, before Lissa muttered, "I can tell you're nervous too."

Nathan's brow furrowed. "How do you figure?"

Lissa giggled. "Well, I did kinda see you with your head in your hands when I walked in…that, and you do the rubbery thing with your face when you're nervous or stressed out. Or angry. Or surprised…"

Nathan laughed quietly before cutting her off. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. I guess you know me pretty well." He declared.

Lissa nodded. "Well, you're my…friend, after all!" She replied. "I should know these things!"

Nathan shrugged. "Yeah, I guess…but that kinda gets rid of me being able to help make you less nervous."

The princess snorted. "What do you mean? It's not all about you helping me, I can help you too!" She declared.

Nathan raised an eyebrow before letting out a long sigh. "You're right. I'm sorry. I really should trust you more by now…" The tactician let out an awkward laugh.

Lissa nodded with a bit of a glare. "You're damn right, mister! Now you're walking outside with me, and we're gonna crush these bad guys and save my sister!"

Before Nathan could respond, Lissa grabbed his hand and dragged the man out of the tent. As the two stood outside, holding hands, they stared at each other for a moment awkwardly before breaking out in laughter.

"Gods, what are you doing?" Nathan cried out.

Lissa giggled, with a few snorts in between. "Uh, being really nervous I guess?"

Nathan shook his head, still laughing. "Well, I've gotta admit, that pretty much killed my nerves. So…thanks, I suppose. You're pretty good at cheering up people too, I guess I'm rubbing off on you!" He concluded.

Lissa gave him a playful wink. "I learn from the best, after all!" She told him.

Nathan nodded. The two then heard Frederick calling out for the shepherds to prepare to march.

"Let's go kick some Plegian arse, alright?" The tactician told the princess, who laughed and nodded, before departing to pack up her tent.

Nathan turned back to his tent, casting a spell from one of his tomes to take it down. His expression changed to a stoic frown, checking his things to ensure he was ready for the challenge ahead. 

* * *

**Sorry about how long it took to get this chapter up! I had quite a hard time with it, writing out quite a few different versions. I promise the next one will come sooner, as the story reaches it's conclusion! -Nate**


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Nathan stood still, tome in hand, staring up at Gangrel, who was laughing maniacally at the way the situation had played out. He looked ahead of them at the undead archers standing before him, their bows pointed up at Emmeryn.

Nathan's plan had initially gone off without a hitch, with the shepherds successfully infiltrating the courtyard of Plegia's castle with the help of two new recruits, a Monk named Libra, and a Plegian mage who defected to their side named Tharja. Basilio and Flavia had rescued Phila and her Pegasus knights to go and rescue Emmeryn from high atop the stone cliff.

However, Aversa, Gangrel's subordinate, summoned a swarm of risen archers, who shot down and killed Phila and her Pegasus knight team. All of a sudden, Gangrel was in control again.

Gangrel looked down towards the shepherds standing in his courtyard, and addressed Chrom.

"I believe this is what they call a…'reversal of fortunes'." The mad king sneered. "Now then…grovel before me, and beg for your worthless lives!"

Chrom's hand tightly gripped falchion as he started to inch forward. "I'd give up my life before I beg it from you," He growled.

Gangrel let out a sickening laugh. "Oh, that is a good line! A fitting epitaph for your tombstone, perhaps? But regardless, you do forget that I have bows trained on your precious sister. If any of you so much as move a muscle, I'll give them the signal to let their arrows fly. Now then, who wants the honour of killing the exalt?"

Gangrel laughed yet again as the shepherds stood helpless, frozen in place. "Eyahahaha! This is perfect, isn't it, Aversa?" He called out to his assistant, who grinned mischievously, nodding her head.

The mad king then continued his speech. "Now then, to be fair, no one needs to die today. Just lay down your weapons, and give me the fire emblem, and I'll return your precious exalt unharmed," he sneered.

Chrom hung his head. "…I…" He began, before Nathan called out to him.

"CHROM! We can't trust them!"

"I know! I'm not an idiot! But if I say no, he'll kill her!" The prince then sighed in defeat. "This is a problem with no right answer, yet I have to choose…"

"No, this is not your decision to make, Chrom." A voice called out. Nathan and the others looked up to Emmeryn, who addressed them from high above on the small cliff from where she stood. She then turned to Gangrel.

"Is there no hope you will listen to reason?" The Exalt asked.

Gangrel glared back at the woman. "You mean, even more of your sanctimonious babble? I think not. All I want to hear is a THUNK of arrows, and a SPLAT as you hit the ground! That is, unless SOMEONE is willing to hand over the fire emblem, NOW!"

Chrom then quickly called out to Gangrel. "FINE! You win…" He then looked up to his older sister. "Emm…I know you won't approve, and perhaps a crisis will come up when we need the fire emblem, but the people of Ylisse need you today! If dark days will come of my decision, then we will face them the way we are meant to; together."

Emmeryn looked down upon Chrom with a pained smile. "Th-thank you, Chrom." She uttered. "I know now what I must do."

Emmeryn took one last long look at the sky before beginning to step towards the end of the cliff.

Frederick moved to try and hold back Chrom, but he took off before he could grab him, running frantically across the courtyard, his hand stretched out in vain. Lissa moved to go after him, but Nathan wrapped his arms around her, holding her back, as he stared in pain up at Emmeryn, who now stood on the very edge of the cliff.

She put her arms together, as though she was praying, and leaned forward, falling from her perch.

Lissa screamed in agony, crumpling to the ground, out of Nathan's grasp. The tactician knelt down and pulled her into a hug as she cried. Nathan and the others looked to Chrom, who now stood over the lifeless body of his sister, staring in shock. He fell to his knees in front of her, and buried his face in his hands.

"Emm…" He whimpered, holding back tears.

They had lost.


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

In the days following Emmeryn's death, the shepherds, now back in Ferox planning their next move, carried a depressed aura about them. Chrom and Lissa hardly exited their rooms in the Feroxi castle, and neither was willing to accept any visitors. While Nathan gave them their time to grieve, he knew they had to strike back at Gangrel while the iron was still hot. On his way to find the two, he saw Sumia, who had tripped and dropped the books she was carrying on the ground.

"Need some help?" The tactician called out, kneeling beside the brown haired Pegasus knight and picking up a book for her. Sumia smiled up at the man.

"Thanks, Nathan," She answered, as she took the book back from him. Nathan looked over her stack of books, examining the spines and reading the titles.

"See any you like? You can borrow it if there's one you want to read…" Sumia urged.

Nathan pulled a book from the pile. "This one looks interesting…" He mused, before quickly stuffing it inside his cloak. "Anyways, where were you headed?"

Sumia nodded to the staircase next to them. "I was planning on visiting Chrom…as long as he lets me in, that is. He hasn't exactly been too accepting of anyone seeing him right now. But it's understandable, given the situation…how about you?"

The tactician motioned for them to begin walking up the staircase, as he informed Sumia of his plans.

"Well, I was going to try to talk to both Lissa AND Chrom, but looks like I'll just have to talk to Lissa," he mused. "I'm sure having you around will 'cheer up' Chrom, if you know what I mean…" He said with a playful wink.

Sumia blushed a deep red. "N-no, it's nothing like that! We're just friends!" The Pegasus knight insisted.

"Right, sorry, I forgot. The two of you are around each other so often, and you're always baking pies for him, you seem like an old married couple!" The tactician joked.

Nathan made a mental note to talk to Chrom about his proposal later, that he apparently was still putting off.

"Anyways, I'll see you later, Sumi. Good luck with Chrom!" Nathan called, as the two reached the top of the stairs, parting ways.

Nathan made his way to Lissa's room, and slowly pushed open the door, sticking his head in. "Lissa, I just wanted to-" He began, before a frog being thrown in his face cut him off.

"G-GO AWAY!" Lissa stammered, hiding behind her bed.

As Nathan pulled the frog off his face, he watched it vanish in a puff of smoke.

"I'm really regretting teaching you that summoning spell…" The tactician complained. He made his way into the room and around the bed to see Lissa, sitting on the stone cold floor. Her eyes were weary and red from crying. He frowned at the princess. It broke his heart to see her looking so sad. Without saying anything, he put his arms on her hips and lifted her onto the bed.

"There isn't anything I can say to cheer you up, unfortunately…" He muttered, before kicking off his shoes and lying down next to the princess.

"All I can do right now is be a shoulder for you to cry on." The man concluded, wrapping Lissa in his arms, who began to sob again, as Nathan stroked her back.

* * *

**I've been on a roll as of late, and the ideas for this story are coming like crazy at the moment! Expect more chapters soon! -Nate**


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Frederick decided it was time to stop sitting around. He needed to go care for Lissa and Chrom, especially in this hour of dire need, no matter how many frogs Lissa would throw at him. There was also the problem of having to break down Chrom's door, which he had barricaded from the inside, but that would come up when the time came. After all, if he need it, he carried his trusty lance, strapped to his back. As the man made his way up the stairs, he met Sumia, who was heading down. She smiled at the great knight.

"He'll be fine." She told him, obviously referring to Chrom. "He'll be down in time for dinner."

Frederick was relieved to hear this. "Splendid work, Milady!" He exclaimed. "Now then, I must go check on Milady Lissa. I bid thee farewell!" He called to her as he rushed up the stairs.

"Freddy, I already checked on them, she's with Nathan!" Sumia responded, but Frederick was too far away now to hear her. "Well, I tried…" She muttered to herself before continuing down the stairs.

Frederick slowly pushed open the door to Lissa's room, ducking reflexively to avoid any possible showers of frogs.

However, there was no response, simply the sound of loud snorts from Lissa. the man looked to the bed and saw the princess, fast asleep and snoring loudly, curled up in Nathan's arms. Nathan was asleep as well, with a small smile of content upon his face.

The great knight quietly tiptoed across the room towards the two and gently nudged Nathan, doing his best to wake the tactician but keep the princess asleep.

Feeling Frederick's jabs to wake him, Nathan slowly opened his eyes, then groaned looking up at Frederick, who quickly put a finger over his lips. Nathan raised his eyebrows at the man, before looking down at a contently sleeping Lissa, whose head was resting on his chest. It took him a second to clue in on what had happened, before his eyes widened and he quickly turned to Frederick.

"It's not what it looks like, I swear!" Nathan quietly hissed between his teeth. The great knight simply smiled at the man.

"Sir Nathan, there is no need to try and hide these things from me, for I am all for the relationship between you and Lissa!" The great knight quietly replied, gently patting the man on the shoulder in reassurance. He then frowned. "Although, taking sexual advantage of milady at a troubling time for her such as this is quite lecherous, but I have been told by Chrom and Lissa 'not to interfere'."

Nathan groaned loudly. "Gods, Frederick, I'm not taking 'sexual advantage' of Lissa, I came up here to comfort her, and we were on her bed, then she fell asleep on me, and I dozed off too! I swear to Naga, I didn't do anything like that!"

Frederick's stern gaze softened. "I believe you, and I apologize for coming to such a rash conclusion," the man conceded.

Nathan nodded. "That's alright, this does look suspicious after all," he whispered.

Frederick then turned to leave. He turned back to the tactician as he opened the door, calling back, "You are a good man, Nathan. Lissa is in good hands with you as her lover."

Nathan turned red as Frederick exited the room and closed the door behind him. He then turned to the princess, who was smiling now, her head still on his chest.

"There is no way you slept through that," Nathan teased, as he lightly tickled Lissa's neck, causing her to drop the guise and twitch out of hands' reach, giggling.

"Yeah, it'd be kinda hard, Freddy isn't a very good whisperer." The princess confessed.

Nathan's expression then changed, as he blushed. "Well, after what Frederick just said, I think he's forced my hand. We should talk about that conversation from a while back."

Lissa then blushed as well, as the two sat up on the bed. "…Yeah? What about it, Natie?" She taunted playfully.

The tactician rubbed the back of his head. "This feels like horrible timing, given the current state of things…" He mused, before shaking his head. "Nah, screw it. I've been putting this off for way too long."

The tactician stared into Lissa's eyes. "What I meant to say on that night, before I chickened out, was…I love you. More than anyone else. And I need to know if you feel the same way about me."

Lissa giggled as her red face burned even hotter. "I think we both know the answer to that. I'm crazy about you!" She told the man, who grinned from ear to ear.

Nathan pulled Lissa into a tight embrace. "Phew!" He replied. "If you had said you don't, I think that'd mean I can't tell the feelings of women at all!"

Lissa giggled at the man. "Well, I think I did a pretty good job of making the fact that I liked you pretty obvious…" She mused. Nathan grinned and nodded his head.

After they pulled apart, Nathan helped Lissa up. "However, I think this is hardly the time to tell anyone about this." He sternly told her.

Lissa nodded in agreement. "Let's keep this between us, for now…"

The princess squealed in excitement. "But I have to admit, this is pretty cool!" She declared, wrapping her arms around Nathan from behind. "I can hug you whenever I want, now!" She happily proclaimed.

Nathan laughed. "Well, just when we're alone right now, but soon enough." He replied, looking back at the princess, who nuzzled her face against his back.

Lissa let go of him, and the two walked out of the room.

"Gods, this is going to be hard to hide from Chrom and the others…" Nathan mused.


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

The shepherds felt renewed with confidence once they saw Chrom and Lissa join them yet again at dinner. Nathan slipped in through the back of the dining hall as the other shepherds gathered around the two, elated to see them up and about again. Nathan grabbed a plate and loaded up on the food set out by the castle chefs before taking a seat at an empty table. After the crowd around the prince and princess of Ylisse dispersed, Chrom came over to sit with Nathan.

"We'll have to hold a mini war-council later, probably with just you, me, Frederick, Basilio and Flavia later on tonight," the prince explained. Nathan nodded in agreement, not being able to answer as he stuffed another piece of bread into his mouth.

"Heh…I'm sure Lissa will want you to work on your table manners…" Chrom joked to his friend.

Nathan's face turned red at the mention of the princess as he coughed up some of his bread in surprise. "B-bwhath?! Er…Litha and I awen't even dating or anathing Chwom…" He sputtered, slurring his words, before swallowing the rest of his bread and continuing. "W-where did you get such an idea?"

Chrom raised an eyebrow at the tactician. "I…didn't say you were dating…" He replied slowly. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Nathan's mind frantically mulled through ideas for an excuse, before remembering the perfect one was sitting right in his coat pocket, one that would be beneficial for Chrom, but also him as well.

"Well, there is, but…" He leaned across the table, checking to make sure no one was watching them, and slowly opening his cloak to reveal the book he had gotten from Sumia. Chrom read the title and his eyes widened.

"When did you…"

"Sumia had it. I borrowed it from her."

"Won't she notice?"

"I have a plan for that."

Chrom grinned. "You saying that is music to my ears."

Nathan winked at the man. "I'm always three steps ahead," He joked.

Chrom then peeked around the room. "Should we let anyone else in on this?" He asked his tactician.

Nathan nodded. "I can think of a few people…" He muttered.

Chrom nodded. "So, tonight, after the war council. In the Feroxi Library."

Much later, once everyone else had headed to bed, Nathan crept out of his room and tiptoed down the hall to Ricken's room, quickly sneaking inside and waking the young mage.

"…Nathan? What is it? …Is something wrong?" Ricken yawned.

Nathan simply motioned for him to get up. The boy shrugged before slowly sitting up, throwing on his mage robes, and following Nathan out of the room. The two made their way to the room next to them, housing Donnel. The tactician and mage shook Donnel awake, causing him to scramble awake, trying to grab his sword.

"EEYARGH! Ya done right scared me there, Ricky and Nater!" Donnel cried out, before the two silenced him. Donnel raised an eyebrow, before whispering, "What's goin on?"

"Can't explain now," The tactician muttered, "But it's good."

On the way down, the trio spotted Lon'qu, who was training in the castle courtyard.

"He should see this too," Ricken concluded. "This concerns him as well, probably more than the rest of us." Nathan nodded, before waving over the man, talking to him for a bit before convincing him to join them.

The group then made their way to the Feroxi library, where Chrom sat at a small table, dimly lit by the torches nearby.

"You DO still have it, right?" Chrom questioned impatiently, and Nathan nodded. As the three walked over, Nathan tossed the copy of 'How to make him fall for you in a fortnight' onto the table. The other's eyes widened as they saw the book.

"Heh. Perhaps this will be the key to curing my fear of women…" Lon'qu mused. Chrom and the others nodded in agreement.

Ricken then raised an eyebrow at Nathan. "Wait a second, how did you get your hands on this?" The young mage inquired. "I thought it was Cordelia's?"

Nathan informed the group of his encounter with Sumia, seeing this book in her pile, and borrowing it from her.

Lon'qu's brow furrowed. "Doesn't that sound…suspicious?" The swordsman mused. "No doubt this is Cordelia's copy, borrowed by Sumia, but why would she simply let you take it? And also, what happens when she notices that it's missing?"

"I think it'll be believable enough if I bring it back to her tomorrow, telling her I grabbed the wrong book." Nathan told the man. "However, you may be right about them simply having it there to set us up with taking it…"

"Eeyargh! What if it's cursed?" Donnel cried, stepping back slightly from the table.

Nathan looked over to Ricken. "Can you check? I'm not as good with magic as you are…" He asked. Ricken nodded, before closing his eyes and placing one hand over the book. The group stood in silence, before Ricken moved his hand back to his side, sighing and shaking his head.

"I can't…tell." The mage muttered in frustration. "From what I can tell, Tharja borrowed it, but it's impossible to say whether or not she put a curse on it."

Nathan frowned. He then turned to Chrom, who stood in silence, pondering. "…Well, there's only one way to find out." He muttered.

Nathan and Chrom stood over the book, Chrom with his sword drawn. Ricken held gripped his elwind tome tightly behind them, with Donnel holding his bronze sword, and Lon'qu standing next to them, his hand on the hilt of his blade. Chrom held out falchion, nudging it underneath the cover of the book. Nathan readied his tome, fire pulsating on his fingers, just in case.

The five held their breath as Chrom gently inched his sword upward, flipping open the cover. Donnel ducked out of reflex, whimpering slightly, his sword scraping against the stone floor. With the others so on edge, Lon'qu cried out in surprise, drawing his sword, and swiping at the air, Ricken cried out and launched a blast of Elwind at the ceiling and bringing down a nearby chandelier.

"Blast!" Chrom cried out, tripping over Donnel, who was ducked behind him, and falling onto the floor.

"EEYAH!" Nathan screamed, launching a heavy blast of fire at the text, still lying on the table, completely incinerating it, along with creating a large hole in the middle of the table.

The five simply sat in an awkward silence for a moment, before breaking out in laughter.

"O-oh gods…" Chrom laughed, rubbing his eyes. "We really got carried away there, didn't we?"

Lon'qu grinned. "That was…quite the experience. I don't feel as though it helped me with my phobia of women, however…" The swordsman confessed.

"I have to admit, that was pretty fun!" Nathan joked. "We should hang out more often, preferably somewhere that we can't mess up, though…" He looked around at the library, now scattered with glass from the broken chandelier.

"…Can we agree to keep this between us?" Ricken eagerly inquired. The group nodded.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO OUR LIBRARY!"

Nathan and the others turned to see Flavia and Basilio rushing into the room.

"Well, so much for keeping this a secret…" Chrom muttered.


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Nathan groggily awoke the next morning, tired from the past night's events. Basilio and Flavia had made the group clean up the library in exchange for their silence on the situation, and by the time they had finished it was nearly dawn. Yawning loudly, he got up and threw on his clothes before he remembered the plans for the day: they were to begin their march to Plegia yet again, for a final confrontation with Gangrel and his forces. After gathering his things, he set off down the hall, making his way to Lissa's room. The princess was most likely still snoring away, giving the tactician a great opportunity to get back at her for throwing a frog at him the day before. He quietly nudged open the door, before feeling a cold breeze blowing from the inside. He looked around the room, seeing shards of the broken window on the floor, Lissa's bed in tatters, and a note sitting on the bed.

Nathan quickly ran over, picking up the note.

'To whom it may concern:

We have captured the princess. We will return her to you, but only in exchange for a ransom of a hundred thousand gold. If we are not paid in time, we will hand your princess over to the highest bidder. You have until nightfall."

Attached was a map of the surrounding area, with a black x marked on it, no doubt the location of the kidnappers. Nathan kicked Lissa's bed in frustration. In all of the events of the past while, he had forgotten about the bounty placed on Lissa's head. He turned and ran out of the room to find Chrom and Frederick.

Not long after, Nathan stood at the front of the Feroxi throne room with the two men. After Nathan informed them of the situation, Chrom punched the wall next to them in frustration.

"Damn the gods!" He cried out, sweating in agony.

Frederick put a hand on the Prince's shoulder. "Fear not, Milord. I shall go rescue Lissa."

Nathan shook his head. "Nope. This one's mine. I was supposed to be her bodyguard anyways, remember?" He told them.

Chrom grimaced, rubbing his chin in thought. "We can't send a large group, they'd kill Lissa if we did, before we can even get close to them. No doubt they want to negotiate for their pay with a small party." He turned to Nathan. "If you're going, I'm going too."

The tactician shook his head. "Not this time." He told the man. "You have to get going to Plegia. Gangrel has to be stopped, and that's your place. Let me take care of your sister."

"But-" Chrom began, before Nathan cut him off with a stern look.

"You've taught me a lot about trust since we've met, Chrom, and this time, we need to trust each other."

Chrom stood in silence for a moment, before sighing in defeat and pulling his friend into a brief hug. "Good luck. I'll see you in Plegia." He declared.

Nathan gave Chrom a reassuring smile, before turning around and exiting the room.

As Nathan made his way out into the Frigid Feroxi outdoors, putting up the hood on his cloak as harsh blows wind and snow assaulted him. As he walked up to the Feroxi castle gates, a familiar swordsman was leaning up against the wall next to them.

"…You didn't seriously think anyone would allow you to go alone," Lon'qu mused in a stern voice.

Nathan shook his head. "I AM going alone," He growled. "This is my responsibility."

Lon'qu stood himself up from leaning on the wall and made his way to walking next to the tactician. "I know these areas much better than you. That, and…I have lost a woman I was close to once before. I will not allow such a thing to happen to you."

Nathan looked up at the swordsman, surprised at what he had just heard. Lon'qu looked at the ground, simply muttering, "It's a long story, for another time. Just know I'm coming with you."

Nathan sighed. "Fine." He answered. He smiled up at the swordsman. "…You're a good friend, Lon'qu."

Lon'qu smiled back, as the two trudged off into the snow together.

Once they reached the location on the map, they saw it was a ruined fortress in a small valley, covered in rubble. A single guard stood at the front of it.

"Not, the best tactics from the looks of it, an easy to approach fortress with only one guard…" Nathan mused.

Lon'qu frowned, pulling his iron bow from off his back, and notching an arrow in it. "How about less bashing of their tactics, and more focus on the task at hand…" He muttered, before releasing his arrow, which was sent straight through the head of the guard, who crumpled to the ground. Nathan nodded as the two quickly slid down the valley, dragging the body of the guard and hiding him in a nearby bush.

The tactician and myrmidon then cautiously made their way into the assassin's lair, with Lon'qu switching out his bow for his sword, and Nathan drawing his Arcfire tome. They moved slowly, making their way unimpeded before entering a large open room, with Lissa sitting at the other end of it, tied up and gagged. She squirmed and let out muffled cries.

Nathan began to charge recklessly across the room, yelling, "Lissa, I'm coming!" Before Lon'qu could hold him back. However, as the tactician scrambled towards Lissa, he tripped over a set wire, setting off a shower of arrows headed his way. Before he could react, Lon'qu pushed him out of the way, managing to deflect most of the arrows before one pierced his stomach, causing him to cry out in pain.

"LON'QU!" Nathan screamed, crawling over to the man from on the ground. He quickly removed the arrow from the man's chest, pressing the wound with his cloak.

"I…I'm sorry…" He sputtered, tears welling up in his eyes. He had been so foolish, going against all of his tactical experience and simply charging into the fray.

Lon'qu grunted and wheezed, "I'll…be fine…I just need…to rest…I assume…this covers my debt…of you saving my life back in Ylisse?"

Nathan laughed slightly, still trembling. "Nice to see that you're developing a sense of humour," He joked.

"Aww…well ain't that sweet." A voice taunted from the end of the room. Nathan looked up to see a burly bandit man with his hand around Lissa's neck, holding a knife to it. Nathan stood up, placing his tome on the ground, and raising his hands in the air.

"We'll give you what you want," Nathan pleaded, sweat dripping down his face, "Just don't hurt her."

"Well, what I WANT is my money!" The kidnapper barked, tightening his grip around Lissa's neck, causing her to squeal.

Nathan grimaced, standing in fear. The amount that was asked for was not one the shepherds had available. He had run out of other possibilities, so it was time to try something else.

He sighed in defeat. "If you want your money…take me, instead. I'm the tactician of the Ylissean army, however much you were thinking you could make from a bounty for Lissa, My head would double it."

The man slightly loosened his grip on Lissa, grinning wildly. "Interesting…" He sneered. Lissa squealed and squirmed, shaking her head quickly at Nathan.

Nathan slowly inched towards the man, causing him to pull his knife up to Lissa's throat.

"Stay there," He growled, "I don't trust you at all, so make a move and the princess di-EEYAARGH!"

The bandit cried out suddenly as Lissa used her hands, the bindings falling to the floor, seared on the edges, to push the man's hand holding his knife off her throat, while her foot was brought to his groin. The man collapsed on the floor in pain, as Lissa burned off the end of her gag over her mouth, letting it fall to the ground. She turned to the man, yelling, "You're not getting to touch either of us, creep!"

The man growled, rushing to his feet and drawing his axe, screaming, "I'LL KILL YOU!" However, he never reached Lissa, as a massive blast from Nathan's arcfire tome incinerated the man. Nathan and Lissa stared at each other for a moment in awkward silence.

"That was pretty nifty, what you did back there. I'm pretty glad I taught you those spells," Nathan remarked.

The two stood in silence before Lissa ran over, wrapping her arms around the tactician and snuggling her head into his chest. They basked in each other's warmth for a moment, before remembering that Lon'qu still lay on the floor, looking over at them with a sly grin.

Nathan, completely red, pulled away from Lissa as the two ran over to the man. The tactician reached around in his cloak before pulling out a blue elixir. "Here, drink this," He told the injured swordsman, helping hold up his head so he could consume the potion. The man let out a sigh of relief after finishing the elixir.

"Thank you," He replied.

"MY DARLING LISSA, I'M COMING!" A voice cried out from behind them. Lon'qu, Lissa, and Nathan turned to the doorway of the room to see Maribelle rushing in. She then saw the injured Lon'qu lying on the floor.

"LON'QU! Are you all right? Let me tend to your wound, my love!" She cried out, rushing to the man, and pulling her staff from off her back, applying it to the wounded area. She then looked up to Nathan and Lissa, who stood next to the two, grinning sheepishly.

Maribelle blushed before snapping back, "Oh, for the love of the gods, yes, we're dating, we're actually engaged now…but it's not like the two of you can get away from questioning! Lissa! Are you dating this…this heathen?"

Lissa glared at her best friend. "Hey! He is not a heathen, whatever that is! But yes, we are dating…" She confirmed, blushing. Nathan looked to his swordsman friend.

"Since when are you two engaged?"

Lon'qu sighed, before grimacing slightly as Maribelle healed a more tender part of his wound. "I…proposed…slightly before you arrived at the gates. No doubt Maribelle overheard our conversation, and decided to follow us, out of curiosity…" The swordsman mused.

Maribelle put away her staff, as she and Nathan helped up Lon'qu. "Now then…to Plegia?" The troubadour asked.

Nathan nodded. "Let's finish this war, once and for all."


	29. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Nathan slowly opened his eyes the next morning, looking around the small tent he found himself in. He felt something on his chest and heard some familiar snoring, looking down to see Lissa sprawled out on top of him, still snoozing away. He looked nearby, seeing Lon'qu sleeping, slightly blushing despite his eyes being closed, with Maribelle wrapped up in his arms.

The four had made their way out of Ferox and into Plegia, still being behind on catching up to Chrom and the shepherds. Nathan estimated that they were at least a few hours' travel behind them, so the group decided to stop for the night and continue moving the next day. They were traveling extremely light, bringing only a tent and their weapons along with a borrowed caravan from the Ferox castle, pulled by Maribelle's horse. He hoped that they could catch up with Chrom and the others before their fight with Gangrel began, or at least in time to enter the battle.

Nathan grinned down at the still snoring Lissa, running his hand through her hair, which was out of its signature pigtails for the night.

"Time to get up, Liss," The tactician whispered to her.

The princess smiled widely as she looked up at the man, opening her eyes. "…Is it?" She yawned. "I slept like a log last night!"

Nathan chuckled slightly. "I could tell, you seemed pretty tired from yesterday." He replied.

"Are we heading out?" Lon'qu muttered groggily, sliding Maribelle off of him gently and sitting up, still nursing his chest wound, rubbing it slightly. Nathan nodded. The swordsman reached over and shook Maribelle awake.

"Up. We are about to leave." He muttered to the troubadour, who glared at him.

"We're going to have to work on your wake up skills too, apparently…" She grumbled. Nathan and Lissa laughed as they got up out of their shared bedroll to get dressed and ready for the day ahead.

Once they had made their way back into their caravan they directed themselves towards the border wastes where Gangrel's army waited. Lissa and Maribelle were in deep conversation with each other, as Nathan turned to Lon'qu.

"…I'd assume you know that you're in no shape to fight Gangrel," the tactician told to the man.

Lon'qu snorted in reply. "And I'd assume you know that I'll be fighting anyways," He retorted.

Nathan laughed, with Lon'qu bearing his signature small grin of approval. "Fair enough. There's no way I'm letting you onto the front lines though."

The tactician then peeked his head out of the front of the caravan, thinking he had heard something. He looked off into the distance, seeing a large cloud of dust being kicked up, and the familiar sound of steel clashing amongst battle cries.

He turned back around to see Lissa, Maribelle, and Lon'qu all right behind him, also peering up ahead.

"I think this is our stop," The tactician joked sarcastically, flipping open his robes and pulling out his arcfire tome. The others moved to prepare their things.

As the group arrived at the battlefield, they left their caravan to travel on foot, with Maribelle riding her horse. As they closed in, Nathan could make out some things about the grounds ahead, spotting a group of forts on the side of the battlefield, cut off from the action by a small creek. Squinting at the area, he was able to make out some Plegian soldiers making their way out of the forts to ambush the shepherds. He turned to Lon'qu, who was staring in the same direction, and mockingly held his hand out towards the forts.

"After you, sir." He joked.

Lon'qu drew his blade and the two rushed off ahead.

Left behind, Lissa turned to Maribelle.

"We're definitely going to be going on lots of double dates." She told the troubadour, who laughed from atop her horse.

"Weren't we going to be already?" She joked, offering Lissa a hand to get on the back of her steed, which she accepted.

"Yeah, that's true…but more than just the ones we plan out, I think." The princess mused. The two shared a laugh before Maribelle urged her horse to speed up in order for them to catch up to the others.

Once the bandits in the forts had been disposed of, the group made their way across the small bridge over the creek, running into Libra, healing a badly wounded Frederick. A gaping wound was spread on the right side of his chest, and his left leg was covered in burns and scrapes. Lissa and Maribelle quickly jumped off their horse to help.

"How bad is it? Nathan asked, his voice wavering slightly. He felt as though he may not want to know. Libra shook his head.

"Not good. Even if he survives, I doubt he'll be able to fight again…" The monk commented grimly.

Nathan cursed loudly. "If only we had arrived earlier…" He hissed in frustration. Libra shook his head.

"There is no time to dwell on past deeds, Nathan," The long haired man decreed. "You are here now, and Chrom needs his tactician. Go."

Nathan turned to Lon'qu, who nodded his head slightly towards the action in the battlefield, where Chrom could be seen locked in a fierce duel with some Plegian soldiers.

"I'll watch over them here. Get moving!" The swordsman sharply snapped at the man.

Nathan nodded solemnly. Lon'qu unsheathed his blade, passing it to Nathan. "You'll need a sword up there. Try not to break this one." He joked. Nathan grinned slightly, before pausing and giving the man a confused look.

"What are you going to use, then?" He asked.

Lon'qu pulled his bow off his back, waving it slightly.

"Oh, right. That's a thing." The tactician muttered. Lissa then gave Nathan a sharp look, snapping, "Shouldn't you be somewhere, Natie?"

Without another word, Nathan ran off towards Chrom. Lon'qu turned back to the princess, giving her a mischievous grin. Before he could say anything, Lissa glared at him too.

"We're on the battlefield, you morons, we have better things to do than joke around!" She yelled.

Lon'qu nodded, before turning around and frowning. "These people really are wearing off on me a bit too much…" The man muttered to himself, before pulling an arrow from his quiver and loading it up.

Chrom felt his muscles beginning to give as he parried yet another blow from a Plegian soldier. They had been caught off guard near the beginning of the battle, thanks to their lack of a tactician within their ranks, with Frederick being injured gruesomely from defending Chrom from a mage ambush. Most of the others had been forced to fall back, with only Chrom, Sumia, and a few others being left in the heat of the battle. Sweat was pouring from his brow as he swung his blade to protect Ricken from being struck down by a Plegian axe.

"Need some help?" A familiar voice called out, followed by a wall of fire consuming multiple Plegian soldiers. Chrom turned towards the voice, seeing Nathan standing nearby, sword drawn and arcfire tome in hand. The prince smiled in relief.

"Just in time." He panted. As he spoke, the Plegians appeared to retreat, all scurrying off to the sides of the battlefield as an incensed Gangrel made his way towards the two.

"You're not kidding," The tactician muttered in agreement, twirling his blade in anticipation, waiting for Gangrel to make a move. The Mad king drew his Levin sword, running towards the two, his army regrouping and charging again alongside their leader.

"This is the end! Shepherds, to arms!" Chrom cried out, as the remaining shepherds still able to fight, along with the masses of Ylissean and Feroxi soldiers, drew up their arms and ran forward to meet their opponents.

As the final stage of the battle began, Nathan lost sight of Chrom among the mass pandemonium, with the Prince clashing blades with Gangrel when he was last seen. Nathan looked frantically around the battlefield while striking down enemies with his blade and tome, trying to find the man. He spotted Sumia high above the combat, taking on a dragon rider. Nathan shot up a large ball of fire at the wyvern and it's rider, sending them plummeting to the ground in a ball of flame.

"SUMIA! GO HELP CHROM!" Nathan screamed, hoping his words would reach the Pegasus knight. She looked down at him for a second, trying to make out what he had said, before dashing off in another direction. Hoping that she was headed to help their exalt, Nathan began charging in the direction she headed, striking down any Plegians who got in his way.

Elsewhere, Chrom found himself locked in combat with Gangrel, sparks flying from their blades as they clashed. He could see the sneer on the Mad King's face with each swing of his Levin sword. Gangrel could feel Chrom's blows getting weaker and weaker each time their weapons clashed. The prince was wearing down.

One well placed slash from Gangrel's electrified blade, straight to Chrom's stomach, piercing his armour and cutting at his flesh, knocked the man to his knees, doubled over in pain. Gangrel raised his Levin sword in triumph, about to bring down a fierce blast of Lightning to finish the job.

Chrom looked up to the sky overhead. "So… this is how it ends." He muttered to himself. "Emmeryn…I'm sorry. I'll be with you soon. Nathan, Lissa, everyone…be safe."

"I'LL END THIS NOW!" A voice cried from the sky above. Gangrel and Chrom both turned to look, before Sumia and her Pegasus swooped down, Her lance impaling Gangrel swiftly through his side, ending him.

The entire battlefield sat in a complete silence, all turning towards the scene of Sumia, Chrom, and Gangrel.

"Damn it…all…" Gangrel coughed weakly, sputtering up blood before collapsing to the ground as Sumia withdrew her lance.

The Ylissean and Feroxi force erupted in cheers as they watched Gangrel fall to the ground. Sumia blushed as soldiers and others surrounded her and Chrom, congratulating them.

Finally, the war had ended.


	30. Chapter 29: Finale

Chapter 29

As the Plegian force laid down their arms in surrender at the death of their King, Nathan made his way off the battlefield, towards the Ylissean caravans that marked their back line where the healers always were. He spotted Lissa, whose eyes lit up as she saw him. The princess ran over to greet him, jumping into his outstretched arms and knocking him over in surprise.

"What, did you think I was gonna die? You need more faith in your army's ace tactician, Liss!" Nathan mockingly scolded. Lissa giggled at the man, before locking lips with him for a passionate kiss, the two still on the desert ground.

Nathan's eyes opened for a second as he could hear someone approaching them. He broke off their kiss as he looked over at a familiar pair of grey boots before him. The pair slowly looked up at Chrom, standing over them with a smug grin on his face.

"So…you two 'aren't dating or anything'?" Chrom sarcastically mused, repeating Nathan's words from a few nights back.

Nathan blushed slightly. "Uh, well we weren't kinda, still aren't, kinda…but we are now I guess…I don't know."

He looked up to Lissa, still on top of him. "Are we dating?" He asked with a confused look on her face. Lissa blushed and giggled, nodding.

"We are, dummy, and it doesn't matter what this old fart says about it!"

Chrom frowned, slightly taken aback. "I'm not that old…" His gaze softened. "But, I'm not against the two of you dating. Nathan and I have already discussed this, and I'm pretty sure you'd just date him anyways, sister…"

Nathan and Lissa helped each other up to their feet. Nathan's brow then furrowed, turning to Lissa.

"How's Freddy?" He inquired, remembering the great knight's wounds. Lissa frowned, with Chrom looking to her as well, eager to know the status of their friend.

"Well…" Lissa began, "It's not good…but it looks like he'll be alright. It'll take some time but, knowing him, he'll be back in shape in no time."

Nathan exhaled loudly, breathing a sigh of relief. "Great to hear," He told the princess. He then turned to Chrom. "So, back to Ylisse then?"

The Exalt nodded, smiling. "Yes. It's time to go home." He replied. "We're going to have the biggest feast and the biggest party this land has ever seen!" He declared.

"Sounds like a plan, Captain!" Nathan chimed. "Lead the way!"

When Chrom said party, he really did mean quite the party. Castle Ylisse was bustling with food and friends, every table filled with exotic dishes and drinks, along with expensive meats and wines. Nathan, being the tactician, had always been a more studious mind so to speak, preferring to stay sober and watch over the others rather than drink along with them. Every event to him needed a strategy, no matter how big or small, and he preferred his brain ready for anything that may come his way.

"…You're sure? Not even just one?" Chrom inquired, slightly downed by his friend not joining in the festivities.

Nathan shook his head. "Gods forbid one of us keep an appropriate level of caution," He quoted, copying Frederick from long ago when they had first met.

"And anyways, this'll make things much more interesting when I have to tell you everything the next morning," the tactician slyly added.

Chrom laughed loudly. "Fair enough, friend."

Vaike called to him from the distance, waving a glass of ale. "I think that's my cue. I'll see you later!" He told Nathan as he headed off. Nathan smiled and waved at him before leaning back in his seat and pulling out a book from his cloak to read. As he began to flip through the pages, a familiar pair of arms wrapped themselves around his neck.

"I was starting to wonder where you went, I haven't seen you since we got back to the castle," Nathan muttered, smiling slightly but not bothering to look up from his book. He could tell who it was.

"I was with Sumia and Maribelle and some others earlier, hanging around, but I figured I'd come find you," Lissa told him, adding, "You're quite fun to be around, in case you didn't know."

Nathan looked up to her, pulling her around and moving over slightly so they could both fit on the chair. "Well, that's good to hear. I'll keep that in mind." He declared.

Just then, another chair moved at the table, with a familiar black-haired swordsman taking a seat.

"Parties not your type of thing, big guy?" Nathan teased, looking over to Lon'qu. The man shook his head.

"A true swordsman never drinks himself into a stupor." He simply replied. He motioned to his mug of ale sitting on their table. "This is enough for me."

Nathan shrugged and nodded his head.

"Can't argue with that, I suppose."

Adding to the mix, Donnel walked over to their table as well, holding hands with Nowi as the two sat together.

Nathan stared at Donnel for a moment, then at his hand, then at Nowi, then simply leaning back in his chair, quietly muttering, "Well, I ship it." Donnel blushed slightly with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Where's Ricky?" Donnel inquired. Nathan took a quick survey of the room before spotting him, off trying to follow Panne around again.

"He looks…occupied." Nathan replied, nudging his head towards the two. Donnel looked over, grinning slightly.

"Ya know, I think them two would be a fine couple too!" He declared triumphantly. The others nodded in unison.

"So, I guess the question now would be, who's best with who? I mean, besides the obvious answers…" Lissa mused, wrapping her arms tighter around Nathan.

The group leaned in, even Lon'qu surprisingly. Nathan gave him a confused look and the man blushed slightly.

"What? Am I not allowed to want to be informed?" He hissed.

The group shared a laugh before engaging in their discussion.

Much later on in the night, Lon'qu had been dragged off by Maribelle to meet her family (Despite the swordsman's protests out of fear), Donnel and Nowi left to go dance in the ballroom, leaving Nathan and Lissa sitting all alone at their table, talking to each other and watching the festivities going on around them. They saw as Frederick hobbled in on crutches, causing the entire hall to erupt in cheers before mobbing the great knight. Nathan scanned the expansive room for Chrom, but could not see him anywhere, until the prince slammed a hand down on the table next to him, causing the tactician to look up in surprise.

"Naathan…" Chrom slurred, "I'm gunna do it."

Nathan raised an eyebrow at the man. "Do what?' He asked.

"Prapose. To…er…uh…Sew-meeyer. That pie lady. Yeah." Chrom declared.

Lissa giggled. "Uh, not like that!" She retorted with a grin. Chrom looked over at her and glared.

"I'll do waat I want, sis-ter!"

"Heey, these people giving ya trouble, Chram?" Vaike yelled loudly, as he dizzily hobbled over to the table.

"Yeah, they are, Vaike!" Chrom announced. "They think I ain't gonna pra-pose to Sumier!"

"Ah, screw them, ya can do it! Let's go!" The axe-wielder replied, taking another large gulp out of his glass. Chrom nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Yeah, let's go Vaike!" He yelled, before hobbling off with the man to find Sumia.

Nathan turned to Lissa. "Should we follow them, or…?"

Lissa giggled slightly, getting up and tugging on her boyfriend's cloak. "No, but there is something I wanna show you, come on!"

As Lissa dragged Nathan around the castle, they ran into Chrom and Vaike yet again, this time having finally found Sumia, who was in her room, reading at the time.

"Hey. Hey Sumia." Chrom slurred as he waltzed into the room. Vaike stood at the doorway, watching eagerly. Nathan and Lissa pulled in behind them, looking on over Vaike's shoulder.

"SO!" Chrom yelled. "I WAS THINKING ABOUT IT, AND SUMIA, I JUST WANTED TO SAY, YOU'VE GOT AN ASS THAT JUST WON'T QUIT!"

Sumia turned a deep shade of red, as Vaike yelled, "Yeah, you tell her Chrom!"

Chrom gave a drunk thumbs up back to his friend as he continued. "ANYWAYS, I REALLY LIKE YOUR PIES AND I THINK WE SHOULD GET MARRIED, AND YEAH! SO ARE WE MARRIED NOW?"

Nathan pushed his way past Vaike, rushing into the room and grabbing Chrom by the arm.

"All right, I think that's enough fun for you oh great exalt," He muttered dryly, with a sly grin on his face as he dragged the man out of the room.

"BUT I'M NOT DONE YET!" Chrom yelled back in reply. "SUMIER, I LOVE YA!"

Nathan turned back to Sumia as he dragged Chrom out of the room. "He'll be back tomorrow probably, with an actual proposal I'd hope…" He told her. Sumia blushed, giggling slightly as she looked at Chrom, who was making kissy faces to her as he was being dragged away.

As Nathan and Lissa watched Chrom and Vaike stumble down another castle hallway, singing loudly with their arms over each other's shoulders, Nathan turned back to the princess.

"So, what were you going to show me again?" He asked. Lissa giggled, grabbing his hand yet again and dragging him off to her room.

Once they arrived, Nathan saw a large box sitting on his girlfriend's bed, marked, 'for my Natie'. Nathan raised an eyebrow at the princess who eagerly replied, "Open it, open it! I wanna see the look on your face!"

Nathan slowly popped the top off the box, looking in and seeing a small piece of paper that looked very familiar to him lying on top. "Oh shi-" He was cut off by the paper bursting forth a swarm of frogs, which jumped all over him and down his cloak, knocking the tactician to the ground and causing him to roll around in panic.

Lissa collapsed to her knees in laughter. "Oh gods, that was priceless!" She roared, still laughing.

Nathan slowly got up, chuckling slightly as the last frog hopped out of his cloak, disappearing in a poof of smoke. "My god, have you ever even used that summoning spell for anything BESIDES frogs?" He shot back with a grin.

Lissa shook her head. "Nope!" She replied. "Anyways, there's a real present for you in there."

Nathan got back up and peeked carefully into the box, slowly moving the paper used for the summoning spell, and his eyes widened. Inside lay a gold and black sword, with red tape wrapped around its hilt. He carefully picked it up and swung it around, before admiring it again. Carved into the blade was one word.

"Mystletainn…" Nathan muttered. He turned back to Lissa. "Where did you find this?" He asked eagerly. Lissa shrugged. "At the market, a long time ago. It was quite expensive, some old guy from a foreign land said he was selling it and I thought it looked nice-"

"Selling it?! By the gods, Lissa, this blade is a legendary weapon!" Nathan replied, swinging it yet again in amazement.

Lissa giggled. "Glad you like it, because it wasn't cheap!" She retorted, twiddling her fingers in her hands. She was caught off guard as Nathan tossed the sword back on the bed, pulling the princess into a tight hug, which she quickly returned.

"Oh, right!" Nathan suddenly yelled, before pulling away from Lissa and reaching into his pocket. "I have something for you too…here, take a look!" He held out a tiny box to the princess, who quickly recoiled away.

"No way! I know this trick, mister, I just pulled it!" Lissa cried out. Nathan laughed.

"I swear, it's not a trick, it's a present for you." He told her.

"Well…if you say so…" Lissa conceded, before taking the box into her hands and slowly prying it open, staring inside. "A…ring?" She looked back at the tactician, who had gotten down on one knee, blushing deeply. "Wait, Nathan…what's going on?"

"Well…I was thinking, since we're already dating, and already like each other, and are already spending so much time around each other, maybe you wanted to have all that…forever?" The tactician answered, trembling slightly.

Lissa smiled at the man, putting on her ring. "I'll have nothing less!" She replied. Nathan stood up, breathing a huge sigh of relief as the two shared a laugh before hugging again.

Nathan sighed contently, his arms wrapped around his wife to be. Lissa pulled back slightly to stare at her ring. "Oh my gosh!" She cried out, her eyes widening at it. "This ring is huge! How did you get it?" She asked the man.

Nathan shrugged. "Being our army's tactician pays well. That, and I negotiated some performance bonuses after the last few battles, since I figured I'd need this…" He told her. Lissa giggled before nuzzling up against Nathan's chest.

"Oh, we are gonna have such a GREAT life together!"

**THE END**

* * *

When I got the idea for this story, I had no idea how it would do, or even what I was doing. Suffice it to say, I've been blown out of the water in terms of support. This has been an absolute pleasure to write thanks to the amount of people who have enjoyed it, I can't say it enough how much the support I've gotten means to me, and how much every person who's left me a favourite or follow on my story, or a review, has been a help. In terms of writing, I'm considering doing more things for this couple (Robin/Lissa I mean), so please let me know if you want to see more stories like this! Thanks so much to everyone!

-Nate


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